My Neighbour Roxas
by KokeshiKat
Summary: Namine moves away from her mansion in Twilight Town to Destiny Islands, hoping for a more exciting and fresh new start to life with her childhood friend Kairi. But now a boy named Roxas is going to do more than just that...
1. Meeting The Neighbours

**Notes & Disclaimer: In no way have I been granted any ownership to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or all the other Square Enix game series used in this story. Enjoy reading! This is my first FanFic so if you're going to review, don't be too mean. *Backs away into the distance...***

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Chapter One: Meeting The Neighbours

Namine had just about finished unpacking her clothing into her new wardrobe and put away her necessities into her draws. The only thing she wanted to hurry up and do, after the eight hours of insane driving, was go to Kairi's house. The two have known each other from toddler ages, since their parents are close friends, but they lived quite far so it was a pretty distant relationship.

Namine gave her parents a quick goodbye and practically ran down the street and knocked on a door with a number 19 hanging on it. Kairi's mother opened the door. "Oh, Namine! It's been such a long time. We haven't been expecting you for another few hours or so."

"Well, you know how fast dad drives. He says there are dotted marks on the road that show when the traffic cameras can see you so it was a pretty bumpy ride. Going fast then slow." Namine said, rather awkwardly, but Mrs Kimura still gave a genuine laugh.

"Kairi's up stairs, though I think she's still sleeping. You can go on up." Namine thanked Kairi's mother and Usain Bolt-ed up the stairs. '_How can she still be asleep in the afternoon?!_' Namine went upstairs, to the third floor (it was a large home) and burst right into Kairi's room. Expectedly, Kairi was sleeping soundly and snoring like an animal. Namine walked up to the bed to think of the most annoying way to wake her up. Without a moment to spare, she flicked Kairi on the forehead and the girl jolted up.

"What the heck was that for?" Kairi said, adjusting her eyes to the light. When she raised her head, she lit up like a Christmas tree. "Namine! Your here! When did you come?"

"A few hours ago but I was unpacking. I can't believe your were still asleep! What girl stays asleep until three 'o' clock?"

"Uh, I did wake up for lunch though. But hey, you're here and that's all that matters! Your finally staying in Destiny Islands, that means school together, talking together, shopping together, partying together and generally-"

"Having fun together. Yes."

"Are we seriously going to be those friends who can finish each other's sentences?" After a long silence and watching each other's cheesy smiles grow, the girls broke into a short laughter. "Hey, we should go somewhere to celebrate or whatever... I know, meet the neighbours! My boyfriend and his brother are down the road from here."

"Oh yeah, Sora lives somewhere around here. I didn't know he had a brother."

"Maybe you can have him." Kairi teased, still yawning.

"Oh, shut up. And get dressed!" Kairi did as commanded and a while passed before the girls headed out.

Whilst walking back down the road, Namine noticed how sunny it was and how clean the whole place seemed. The whole scenery was a breath of fresh air compared to old Twilight Town. The house the girls stopped at was right beside Namine's new one. Number thirteen. Namine's house was number twelve. "So Sora lives next door to me."

"Oh, cool. We all live in the same neighbourhood. How nice and totally not planned by me."

The door opened and boy with brown, spiky, gravity-defying hair was standing there smiling at his guests. "Hello Kairi, and Namine! It's been a while. Come on in." The door shut leaving the three to go up the stairs and to _Sora's_ room.

"I'm going to a lot of rooms today, aren't I?" Namine said, saying her thoughts aloud and Sora laughed at her openness. Once they'd all settled, Sora began to speak.

"So how long have you been here so far?"

"Just a few hours. I went to Kairi's house literally five minutes ago and she was still lying around sleeping."

"Seriously Kari? Well you haven't broken my record yet!" Namine just laughed but was still shocked.

"Don't encourage her."

"Don't worry Namine," Kairi said, "Its only Sunday's. That's lazy day for Sora and I."

"So what? Don't you guys have homework to do?"

"That's what the school library is for." Kairi stated.

"And what Riku is for. The guy gets it done the minute he gets it!" Kairi and Sora laughed but obviously Namine was clueless.

"Who's Riku?"

"Ah, you'll meet him at school tomorrow. Great guy. Athletic, cool, tall and handsome, not like Sora." Kairi joked.

"Hey! I am _all_ of those things and you know it!"

"No, no. You're not handsome, Sora, your cute. Like, guy kind of cute."

"What does that even mean?"

The whole time Namine was either laughing or holding back a smile. _'Are they always like this?' _After further pointless, comedic bickering, Namine asked if she could use the bathroom, seeing as she had this urge to fix up her hair and so she left the room. She realised she didn't know which room the bathroom was. All the doors were shut so it was guessing game time.

Namine turned her head several times before deciding that the third room down was the right one. Because she chose it with her _amazing_ _instincts_, surely it had to be right. Namine turned the door knob, opened the door and nearly yelped at the sight of a shitless boy in the centre, just looking back at her in slight surprise. There was a painfully awkward silence and Namine was almost staring by the boy's body, forgetting to avert her eyes.

At which point, her mind came back to reality and she pulled the door shut, in hopes to erase such an image._ 'Good thing he was wearing trousers at least.'_

Shamefully, Namine walked back into Sora's room, sat down and realised something. "Oh crap, that was Roxas, wasn't it?" she said out loud.

"What are you talking about Namine?" Kairi asked.

"Uh, never mind. I was just... You know what, forget it. Let's all just forget it happened."

"You saw Roxas? Tell him to come in here! I thought he went outside. Maybe he came back and we didn't notice."

"I'll get him." Kairi offered. She got up and left. Namine was panicking on the inside. How does she talk to her best friend's boyfriend's brother who she saw without a shirt on?! The dreaded moment came and Roxas entered the room, with full-clothed this time.

Being the quick thinking girl that she was, she knew the best option for now was to retreat. "Sorry guys I have to go now. Mum's waiting at home with lunch so bye." she mumbled quickly, speed-walking out of the room.

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**I hope you liked it, I know I enjoyed writing it. This chapter was a little plain, but it'll get interesting soon...or will it? Yes it will.**

**Goodbye for now. And Why You No Review or Follow?!**


	2. An Artist's Companion

**Feeling bored so I typed up a second chapter for anyone who cares. Enjoy a first day of school! Roxas actually _speaks_ this time, Kairi's little friends are pretty unique themselves and the teachers aren't as normal as she thought, so Namine is in for a surprise...**

**The Disclaimer stands.**

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Chapter 2: The Artist's Companion

"So, you nervous?" Kairi teased. The two friends walked down the street and across a road, making their way to a Monday morning of school. It was a little earlier than usual, since Namine wanted to get a little head start.

"Should that even be a question? I don't even know where to start. I bet everyone here is a wacko like you."

"Oh, you mean the students? They're just the start f it. Wait till you see some of the teachers... I wonder which tutor group your in? And hey, what was up with leaving yesterday? Do you not like Roxas or something?"

"Hmm...Not exactly. Just forget it. New school, new start, right?"

"Go for it. The worst you can do is act all shy, since it'll make people think your boring. Be fun and confident. Like me!"

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot." Namine said, ending the conversation with a sigh. The two had made it Destiny Islands Academy. It was a good school that was rebuilt a few years ago. Sora calls it the shinier version. Namine stared up at the great building whilst mentally trapping away any hesitation, fear and pressure.

Once she and Kairi and gotten their lesson schedule and compared them, Namine was more disappointed than she had hoped. "I can't believe I'm only in your maths and humanities lessons."

"Well, we have a lot of maths over two weeks so that counts for something. Your tutor group is 10b in room S9. Not too far from mine. Oh and you have Roxas, Riku and Xion in most of you lessons too. Olette is in quite a few too."

"Even if _you_ know these people, I still don't. Can we get to class already? Or I'm going to die of...anxiousness, I guess."

"Haha! That rhymed. Anxiousness, guess."

"What? Are you five?"

"Yes." After walking up two fleets of stairs, Namine looked pretty tired already, and Kairi laughed but walked her over to her classroom, and offered to take her inside also. "Don't worry, since we're slightly early, I'll show you who's important. These guys are loyal friends, so they can be trusted to take care of you, okay."

"Okay, I'm not five either, Kairi." Sliding open the classroom door was the most nerve wrecking experience she'd had in the past two days. Namine opened her eyes slowly, hearing the sound of chattering students, and saw that a percentage of the class was still missing, and there was no teacher in the room. "Oh, we really are early." Namine said.

"Yeah, yeah. We have to hurry or _I'll_ be late." Kairi dragged her unsuspecting friend over to a group of people in the back corner, and then let go of her. Namine stared at the familiar blond boy, the tall and silver haired young man and a girl with mid-length black hair thrown over each of her shoulders. The second two looked the most approachable in Namine's eyes.

"Okay, he's Roxas, that's Riku and this is Olette! Wait, where's Xion? Anyways, I want you three to take care of Namine. She's been my friend for ages and she's pretty awesome. You guys, you better not let me down!" Kairi yelled angrily, waving her fist in the air and running out of the room. It was more of a demand than a request.

"So, this is the amazing Namine we've heard all about. Brilliant artist, Kairi's best friend. Oh, I guess we don't know much about you." Riku said dopily.

"It was an accurate description, at least. I moved here yesterday and I only know Kairi and Sora."

"Makes sense. So, do you live close now?" asked a smiling Olette.

"In between Kairi and Sora's houses, actually." The whole time Roxas stayed silent, pulling a sly grin. It was bugging Namine, a lot.

"Oh, Roxas and Sora are brothers so you live near Roxas too. Here that buddy?" said Riku, turning back to the blond boy.

"Yeah. I've kind of already met Namine. Yesterday when she and Kairi came over and she-"

"That story isn't important." Interrupted Namine, "I just bumped into him, I didn't even say hi, you know."

"But you did-"

"Like I said," Namine laughed awkwardly, "It's not important. Can you come with me for a second, _Roxas_." Roxas looked at Olette and Riku but then followed Namine outside the classroom.

"Are you going to tell me off or something?" Roxas asked. The lack of care in his voice was all the more annoying.

"What's your problem?" Namine said. Though it was pretty unnoticeable, she was pretty angry.

"What problem?" Roxas smiled. He so knew what Namine was talking about.

"Uh, I'm trying to get to know them, and your shoving awkward and unnecessary conversation in there."

"Just being honest."

"Well, don't be. What others don't know won't hurt them, right?"

"Come on, it'll be funny."

"Not for me. It was an accident. I was looking for the bathroom."

"You shouldn't put the words 'accident' and 'bathroom' together."

"Ugh, you know that's not what I meant! Anyways, when we get back in class, please don't say anything dumb."

"You and Kairi are pretty similar. Except you didn't threaten to hit me."

"Well, you and Sora are nothing alike. Except for your spiky hair." Namine opened the door and the two sat back in their seats. Roxas was still grinning the whole time. The teacher had entered the room. She was quite young with a long brown plait and a pink bow in her hair. She was quite pretty and had a very gentle demeanour. Picking up a pen, she wrote her name on the whiteboard.

"Good morning, class 10b, It's nice to meet you all. I'm Ms Gainsborough, but some of you whom I've met before will know me as Aerith and I'll be your tutor for the year. Any questions?"

A girl at the front raised her hand. Her hair was to shoulder length and had big curls at the ends. "Yes, Selphie?" The teacher said.

"Are you and Mr Fair going out?"

* * *

Namine's first lesson was English with Mr Strife. For a lot of the time, most the girls in the class were just making googly eyes at him and he gave a bunch of them detention.

Namine was glad that none of the teachers she'd had so far were old. But she had to admit, it was pretty funny when Mr Strife put his pen down and just said, "Okay If you girls don't stop that now, it's detention for all of you!" Namine was thinking the whole time; _'Poor guy, can't even do his job on the first day of the year because of the girls...'_

After the lesson had passed, it was break and Namine rushed over to Kairi's class door without hesitation, waiting for the red head to come. Kairi left the classroom and was pretty much attacked by Namine when she gave her a huge hug. "Kairi! It was so weird! Roxas was so annoying from the moment he started talking. Thankfully I sat nowhere near him in English and was next to Olette. But then all the girls in the class were annoying the teacher and they got detention. It was just so bizarre."

"Oh, don't worry. It gets weirder. Wait until you see our humanities teacher for our last lesson. Yikes."

"Is it always like this? All the teachers I've seen walk around the school look so...young."

"A lot of them are as crazy as the students though. Destiny Islands has such an interesting inhabitance."

"You make it sound like you're a load of monkeys."

"Homo sapien Erectus, actually."

"Oh, don't get all science-y on me." Kairi just laughed and the girls went down to the canteen. But as they sat down at a table to just talk, Kairi called over a group of her friends to meet Namine. And so walked over Sora, Olette, two boys behind her, Riku, the girl who asked about Ms Gainsborough's love life and then_ Roxas_.

The large group sat down and Kairi began to introduce Namine to three new people. "So this is Hayner and that's Pence. Their pretty close friends with Olette. And this is Selphie! She's another close friend of mine, Namine. I have a feeling you two will get along well!" Selphie giggled and greeted Namine, making feel more relaxed that she was meeting potential friends.

* * *

The next lesson had to be absolutely, without a doubt Namine's favourite. Art! Her teacher was Mr Highwind but sadly for Namine though, he had a high temper, bad hearing and was _not_ the friendly looking teacher Ms Gainsborough was._ 'At least the he's good at teaching art'_.

But things only got worse, they were studying nature and for Namine, being partnered with Roxas for painting wasn't exactly running through fields of flowers. "Roxas, please stop taking my paint brush!"

"It's the biggest one though. It'll get the stupid painting done fastest!"

"Painting detail isn't about speed! Precision is the key! Gimme the brush!"

"But I need it!" he yelled holding the brush firmly, leaving Namine pulling on it like her life depended on it. Her sentences began gapped with her heavy breathing.

"Roxas, you can have it once you respect... the art... of painting!"

"SILENCE!" yelled Mr Highwind. The short man was standing over the bickering teens with piercing red eyes. "Detention for the both of you at the end of the day!" Oh no, Namine was _not_ going to let Roxas get her a detention on the first day!

"But-!"

"Nooooo buts!" Mr Highwind screeched. Namine couldn't believe she was already shot down. He wouldn't even listen to her plead.

Roxas laughed quietly. "He said butts..." Mr Highwind's face was turning red from rage.

"You have always been my least favourite student, Roxas." He spat, "Double detention for both of you!"

"Why me?!" Namine whined.

* * *

And so the lesson ended with that. Namine had scored a detention for arguing. It was lunch time and Namine met up with Kairi, who was with Riku, Sora and his brother Roxas.

"Hey Namine." Sang Kairi, "So how was art?" Namine knew that Roxas had probably already told his side of the story.

"Well, this guy over here was trying to take a paint brush from me and his excuse was that he wanted to get his painting done quickly. In the end, we both got double detentions and I never even got to finish my painting. Neither did he!"

"It shouldn't matter to you how I do my class work. Why, do you care about what I do?" Roxas teased.

"I don't care about you, it was for your canvas. It doesn't deserve for you to just ruin it with a mass of paint."

"Anyway," started Riku, in an attempt to change the topic, "does anyone know where Xion was?"

"She hasn't come in, and it's the first day of school." Added Sora.

"Maybe she's feeling a little sick." Kairi suggested.

"Maybe she forgot today was school. It could happen." Said Roxas, and Namine and the others couldn't help but laugh. Afterwards the group went to actually eat they're lunch and Namine learnt a little more about each of the boy's personalities.

Sora was cheesy, Riku was mature but still made fun of Sora a lot and Roxas was a mixture of both. But in the end, they were all pretty found it particularly interesting how Kairi would talk to them and how it was different to her. Namine had a habit of over-observing.

* * *

So the next lesson came and Namine was finally with Kairi. They had a double dose of Humanities with a teacher Kairi said was completely insane. Namine had no idea if that was good or bad.

The two girls and Sora entered the class room and the whole atmosphere was dead silent. The teacher waited with arms crossed as students sat in their respective seats. Namine took the only empty seat, by Sora. The teacher wrote his name on the board in capital letters.

"Welcome to your humanities lesson. I am Mr Sephiroth, and I'll be your teacher for the rest of the year." There was an awkward silence after the long haired teacher's voice faded. And then there was this strange, sticking noise. "Who is chewing gum in my class?!" Mr Sephiroth shouted. His head snapped to one side and he pointed at boy. "Perpetrator! Spit that filthy gum into the bin!" Namine was actually quite impressed at how good the teacher's sense of hearing was. His slow voice was almost demonic and the student instantly got up and threw away his gum. Once he sat down, Mr Sephiroth leaned closer and said, "Instant detention...And if you_ ever_ do that again, you can have a little talk to your head of year."

Kairi quickly passed Namine a note whilst Mr Sephiroth was busy yelling. It read: '_I told you he was crazy!_'

And so went the lesson. Learning about the current wars while the students looked aa still as soldiers; which made Namine feel as though Mr Sephiroth was the general and they were all in a military base.

* * *

The dreaded time came when Namine would have to face a double detention from a lesson she thought would be her favourite. And lucky for her she has to spend it with Roxas, who seemed to only cause trouble. Kairi thought it would be best if she at least walked the Namine over to the art class room, while she got Sora to walk over Roxas.

"Kairi, I just can't believe it. How can one guy be so annoying?" Namine whined.

"Maybe you're looking at this the wrong way. Everyone else sees Roxas as a really fun, considerate and clever guy. Maybe things will get better and you two will, you know, stop arguing. I asked Riku about it and that's what he said. The guy's like a wise man, he's never wrong about anything. Sora says he sees chemistry between you two."

"What? No! No, in case I haven't made it clear enough, I don't like him at all!"

"Say that to Sora!" Kairi laughed. The two were approaching the door when they saw Sora and Roxas coming from the opposite end of the hall. Fire seemed to flare in Kairi's eyes and the two pairs raced to the door. Kairi, being as competitive as she was, ran like a speed demon dragging along her poor friend. The same went for Sora and Roxas until finally Kairi grabbed the door handle. "Ha! I won! You lost! Your losers! Oh yeah! Come Namine, you gotta do a victory dance along with me!" Namine stood still and stared at Kairi with a 'what the heck are you going?' face, as did the two boys.

Namine was starting to wonder what Sora saw in her.

Sora and Kairi gave their goodbyes and walked over giggling about something stupid. Namine gave Roxas a disgusted look and he gave a confident smile. As they walked into the class room, Mr Highwind turned to face them. "Oh, it's you two. Since its the first day of school for one of you, and around the three hundredth time here for the other, the punishment will be fair and evened out. Just come and help me tidy the supplies and you can both leave in time in half an hour. Got it?"

"Thank Mr Highwind for being fair." said Namine.

"Yeah, thanks Cid." The grumpy looking man had given the two a warm smile then went off to the room next door, saying he he'd be gone for a while and they should just put the paint away.

"Roxas, can you put the oil paint pots up on the cupboard? I'll put away the pastels."

"Sure." The two proceeded to stack away mountains of artist supplies in silence. But Roxas doesn't like silence. "So how long have you liked art?"

"Since I don't care much for you, you don't need to care much for me."

"That's cold hearted for someone Kairi told me was the nicest person ever. I'll do it your way this time."

"I'll take you up on the offer then. I started drawing with proper skill when i was around eleven or twelve. I started painting when I was thirteen. Since then, I've kept every piece I've created in my little art studio."

"You have your own studio. I didn't think you liked art that much."

"Well, you learn something every day. So what about you? Anything special about you?"

"You say that like you haven't seen any. I'm pretty similar to my brother. The rest you can figure out over time."

"Playing the mysterious guy, eh?" Roxas laughed and then dusted off his hands.

"I'm done."

"Then you can help me put away the rest of the liquid paint pots." Roxas walked over to the busy girl and picked up nearly all of the heavy pots. Namine was left with three of them. As she took a step forward, one of the acrylic paint tubes had fallen and she said they'd put it away later. Roxas walked in front of Namine and turned around realising he'd left another pot.

They two crashed into each other, Namine's paints went flying, Roxas stepped on the paint tube and he'd slipped, sending his paint in the air. Coloured liquid went everywhere and drenched to two in flying colours. There was silence for a second and Namine wiped the paint off her face. Roxas broke the silence. "Namine, I'm pretty like a rainbow." he laughed. Namine giggled but then remembered the situation they were in.

"Roxas, how could you say something so stupid? Why did you crash into me?!"

"I was ganna go get the last paint pot. At least one survived."

"Is that seriously all you can say? When Mr Highwind gets back we'll get triple detention, a letter send to our parent and we'll have to talk to the head master!"

"At least it'll be together." he smirked.

"Oh yeah, add being with you to the list of punishments." Roxas laughed again and got up, then walked over to Namine to help her up.

"If you want, I could tell Cid it was my fault."

"Even if it was your fault and you do annoy me, it'll make me guilty if I don't get in trouble too."

"Hey, maybe Cid will let us off the hook a little."

"If we're lucky, which I don't tend to be, as you can see."

"That rhymed!"

"Not this again!"

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**So that was it for this chapter! The next chapter will be another school day one, but it'll only have the important lessons. Please REVIEW! It'll be nice if i could actually know what the readers think. ^.^**

**Good luck and Goodbye!**


	3. Healthy Enthusiasm

**A Raging Representative, Nauseous Netball and Party Planning for Namine & Roxas in this instalment! The alliteration was cheesy but I couldn't help myself. Enjoy! Also, I'm going to apologise beforehand. Writing this was a little complicated, trying to fit it all the characters and scenes was difficult so some parts may not be as well written, but I did try my best!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or The World Ends With You (TWEWY). It's all by the Square Enix peoples. :)**

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Chapter 3: A Healthy Enthusiasm

Namine opened the door and saw Kairi looking fresh and ready in her school uniform with a smile on her face. Kairi looked at Namine, who looked like she'd been living stranded on a desert island. "Oh my gosh. Why do you look like a wreck?" Kairi asked.

"I...I'm so tired...I'll be a while...until I'm ready..." Namine yawned.

"Nuh uh, this is not acceptable. At least go fix your face. Come on, go to your room."

"Good. I need my rest."

"No, what you need is to stop looking like the boogie man."

"Yeah...Okay." Namine said, taking a few seconds to react to what Kairi said.

This would often happen to Namine. It was almost like an illness unique to her. The symptoms included laziness, slowed reaction time, fatigue, smaller appetite and lack of motivation to do anything.

Kairi helped her friend walk up the stairs and let her sit on her bed. She went to the bathroom, cupped some water in her hands, came back and threw the water at Namine's face. "There! You feeling better?"

"I feel like poop."

"I knew it. A case of sloth. Oh! I know just the way to fix it!" Kairi began rummaging through her school bag until she took out a six pack of a drink called Head Bull. Namine squinted eyes, focusing on what she was looking at.

"Why do you have a huge pack of drinks in you bag?"

"I lost a bet with Sora and Riku and was going to bring 'em this prize. It's yours now. Wait, I'm going to get the sugar from downstairs. You better be wearing your uniform or at least brushed your hair when I'm back!" Kairi yelled, running down the stairs.

Namine heard her family's pet cats purr. One was a creamy coloured British Long Hair kitten and the other was a striped, Dragon Li tabby cat. Namine named them Holmes and Echo. "Come here Holmes-y. Come here Echo. My little kitties..." she said to her cats with open arms. They jumped up on her bed and Namine stroked them softly.

Kairi had come back upstairs. "I leave you with a task to do and you decide to summon up your cats of destruction?"

"Echo is so cute and chubby..." Namine said, daydreaming away. Kairi looked at Namine with a raised eyebrow then opened up one of the Head Bull cans and poured in a moderate amount of sugar. She put the can on Namine's desk and repeated the steps for all six cans. Finally, Kairi gave one to Namine.

"Drink it up. Like a...drink." As quick as she could, Namine guzzled it down her throat and gave a breath of relief when she'd finished. After all six cans, Namine was instantly feeling better.

"Ah...I feel great! You can wait downstairs and I'll get ready!"

"Good. Now give me Sherlock Kitty and Egghead."

Kairi took the confused cats downstairs and was left waiting for only a few minutes until Namine came rushing down the stairs and was already pouring milk into a bowl. "Namine, have this wheat and oats one. It says fuel throughout the day so it must be good." Kairi suggested. Namine instantly grabbed the box and plopped in a large crumbly biscuit of the cereal.

A short while past of Kairi watching her friend viciously swallow half the bowl and then the girls were able to leave. "Uh, Namine, are you okay?"

"Huh, yeah, what did you say? Never better." the blond replied, her voice jittering.

"Oh boy... What have I done?" Kairi sighed.

* * *

Namine walked into her tutor class room with both confidence and energy. "Heeeeey, Olette. Riku, Roxas." The three greeted Namine and she turned around, seeing another girl sitting by Roxas. She had short, ink black hair and beautiful blue eyes. Her face resembled Kairi's and she had the same sincere smile on her face.

Olette jumped in realisation of something, "Oh, I forgot to tell you about Namine! Xion, meet Namine, Kairi's once long distance best friend and now a new student here. Namine, meet Xion. Best friend of Roxas and generally a kind, sweet person!"

"Wait, your Roxas best friend? Roxas? This guy? Really?" Namine said, genuinely curious as to how someone could be willing to spend time with such a trouble maker.

"He can be a handful at times, I agree. But he'll come through to you in the end."

"Handful? I guess you have it easier than I do. We had paint spilt all over us thanks to blondie here."

"Your blond too!" Roxas argued. "And why are you acting so different today? Your vibrating in your chair."

"Ahhhhhh... I'm just a little hyper, is all."

"Okay, what did Kairi do to you?" Riku asked. Namine was amazed at how accurately he guessed.

"She said it was your prize from some bet."

"What? She gave you the Head Bull drinks?"

"Yup. All six with added sugar."

"Basically," Olette said, "She's high."

Ms Gainsborough walked into the room and put down her bags, then greeted the class. She took the register, calling out names of students as they gave simple responses and then wrote something on the board. "Okay class. Today we're going to nominate this year's class representatve for 10b! Just nominate another person or yourself. The nominees will give a short speech on why they should be chosen, and then we vote. Now, raise your hand if you wish to nominate."

Three hands were raised, one of which was Roxas's. Namine turned around to speak to him. "What, you're going to run for class rep? That'll be the day."

"Just wait and see." he smirked. The teacher picked Roxas to speak and he said. "I'm nominating Namine for class rep."

"Namine!" Ms Gainsborough said delightfully, "It'll be a good chance for you to get the know the school." Namine put on a little smile and then turned around to Roxas, mouthing: 'I'm ganna get you for this!'

So two other people went up first. One was a guy named Seifer and the other was a _girl_ named Rikku and, personally, Namine thought Rikku would win. "And last but not least, Namine." Ms Gainsborough said as the class gave a pre-speech clap. Unwillingly, Namine stood up and walked over and flipped her hair out of her face.

"Okay. I think I should be class rep," Namine began, sitting down on the floor neatly like a Japanese tea girl. Everyone looked at her closer with curiosity, "because... I - The newest student, was nominated against my will, and the fact that I've come up here _proves_ I am able to take one for the team. Furthermore, I was the student council executive back in the day at my old school, so I already know all the ropes and the riff raff that goes on in those meetings. Lastly, my grades are pretty good so I think that means I can do whatever a class rep does. Done!"

Everybody gave a big round of applause and the teacher got the students to vote, then counted up the numbers for each nominee. "The winner is...Namine! Congratulations on all three of you for giving great speeches, but it looks like Namine takes the cake!"

Namine eyes widened and she leaned forward in her seat. "What?!"

* * *

Xion, Roxas and Namine walked together to their PE lesson. Namine and Xion had fun smacking Roxas with their bags, swinging them around and hitting the boy like he was a baseball. They split off soon enough to the changing rooms and the two girls talked the entire time.

Once the class had started and Namine was glad she had a female teacher, Miss Lockhart, who announced that they'd be playing netball. "Okay, we'll have four teams of seven. Team Blue: Xion, Namine, Yuna, Seifer, Roxas and Tidus. Team Red: Riku, the other Rikku, Olette, Pence..." Miss Lockhart continued reading from her list and said that team blue and green would be playing first. "Each team gets three minutes to huddle!" yelled the teacher.

"Okay," started Seifer, "I'll be at the front or whatever and Riku can go at the back, since he's tall."

"Screw you Seifer, you're as tall as he is. No one's going to listen to your dumb ass plan." Roxas said.

"Hey Roxas, you shouldn't be rude." Namine defended.

"Don't worry Namine, Seifer is a total ass. There's no fixing him." Xion assured her.

"I see, well I say that we nominate a captain. As temporary payback, I vote Roxas-" Namine said.

"Yes!" he said happily, cutting off Namine as she spoke.

"To babysit Seifer."

"What?" Everybody nodded their heads in agreement, apart from Seifer and Roxas of course. The matched began and Namine start getting pumped with adrenaline.

A whistle blew and the ball went flying across to team 1's side. Seifer jumped to hit the ball and Roxas did his job at took the hit instead. The ball bounced back and forth until it finally reached Namine. The blonde jumped up and, with all her might, spiked the ball down onto the opposing side, nearly hitting Riku in the face. "Yeah! One point for our team! Whoo!" Namine cheered, doing a victory dance. The whole of the enemy team was in shock, thinking, 'Did the new girl who doesn't seem to weigh more than ninety pounds just beat Riku?'

Riku yelled out, "Why is Namine acting like Kairi?!" Nobody answered, being either as confused as he was or not wanting to give away the secret behind their weapon. The match continued, with Namine scoring just about every point with a vicious spike.

"The girl's going crazy..." Xion mumbled to Roxas, "And we're winning by a mile stone."

The whistle blew once more and the ball flew. Namine's vision became hazy and her body became weak. Namine collapsed, hearing the sound of people call her name.

The next thing she knew, she was in the medical room with Roxas. Namine blinked her eyes open, sat up on the bed and shook her head. "Wh-What happened...?"

"You probably over exerted yourself with the Head Bull stuff. At least that's what the nurse said. Basically, you need rest. Class'll be over in a few moments. So, do you think you'll be okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so. Kairi should have known better So you wanna go? Nurse said you could leave when your ready."

"Nah, I just want my cats..."

"Did you just cats?"

"Yeah." she giggled. "They're so fluffy. One of them looks like your hair."

"Oh, shut up. Let's go, cat lady."

"But thanks, Roxas, for waiting here for me, but this bed feels like a rock. I hate it so we're leaving." Namine grumbled. The was a light knock on the open door and Miss Lockhart entered the room.

"Good job today. You were very good, Namine. Lots of energy. I just came to check you were okay and to give you a piece of advice. I think you should join a school sports team! Mine, to be exact. The girls' volleyball team. I mean, you don't always get a girl who can wipe out a whole team nearly single handed."

"Thanks, Miss Lockhart. I'll keep it in mind."

"And you, Roxas."

"Yeah, Tifa?"

"Man up already. You got your ass kicked by the new girl."

"Oh, not you too."

* * *

So break time had passed with Namine filling Kairi in on what happened, as well as blaming her for having Namine pass out. The girls had their maths lesson together with Mr Squall who was actually a slightly normal teacher.

Lunch time came in a breeze, and Namine felt fresh being level headed and not filled with three litres of energy. Namine, Xion and Kairi went off to the lunch table they ate at the previous day, meeting with Sora, Riku, Olette, Pence, Hayner and a boy and girl Namine didn't recognise. "Never fear Kairi is here." announced the read head, shoving Riku out of the way, gaining her a seat with Sora.

"So, is your sugar rush over now?" Riku asked with a smirk on his face.

"What are you smiling about? You're the first one that Namine beat!" Roxas laughed.

"Yeah, says the boy who got dissed by a teacher!" Hayner added.

"Kairi, you should have seen the whole thing. Roxas had to spend the whole match blocking Seifer!"

"I've noticed how you all tell Kairi like everything." Namine said, observantly, "Is she like the big boss lady?"

"This is how I've been seeing it." Riku began. "Kairi treats herself like the evil queen and Sora is like-"

"The King?" Sora said, feeling proud.

"No, you're more like the queen's dog. Then since Kairi is so protective of Namine, Namine is like the princess. Then Xion and I are like Squires. Roxas is like a Nobleman and Olette and Selphie are like the Evil Queen's assistants. Get where it's going?"

"Riku, that was the nerdiest and stupidest thing I've heard you say, but it sound true enough." Kairi said, laughing along with the others at the table. "Oh, Namine, I forgot to introduce you to Neku and Shiki. These guys are in a different set of classes so we don't see them too often. Shiki, tell 'em the good news!"

"Okay then. Larxene says that Demyx is moving out of his old beach house, and that it'll be vacant for the weekend."

"So?" Roxas asked.

"So I thought we should throw a pool party this Saturday! You know, so Namine can get to know everybody. Axel, Larxene and the others will be there planning it with Kairi and I, and we can invite everybody!"

"Sounds good to me!" Riku cheered.

Whilst everybody was busy discuss party matters, Roxas snuck out of the large crowd and spotted Namine sitting on a neighbouring table. "Hey. You don't like the crowd either?"

"You could say that. Don't you? I would have thought you were a party person."

"Kairi and Shiki plan it out every year. I feel sorry for Neku and Sora. Both their girlfriends are crazy maniacs."

"I always saw it like in the TV shows where the husband does everything the wife says."

"Yeah, reality TV is stupid." Roxas said, drinking water from a bottle while Namine laughed.

"I feel like going home already and doing some drawing."

"You should draw a picture of me. I'd make such an amazing model."

"Yeah you could make a kissy face and a peace sign like Kairi does when she send pictures to Sora."

"That does sound like something she'd do."

"So, I'm curious, how did you and Xion get together?"

"What?"

"She's your girlfriend, right?"

"What? No, she's just a friend."

"Oh really? It didn't seem that way to me. You guys are always laughing and poking at each other and staring at each other."

"Where did you get all that from?"

"From observing! I'm good at it. There's something going on between you two and I know it!"

"Namine, Xion is one of my best friends, but we're not into each other like that."

"Fine, you can say what you want, but I think you guys like each other, even if its a bit. Can I ask another question?"

"If it doesn't involve my non-existent love life, then sure."

"How crazy was I acting on a scale of one to ten?"

"Maybe an eight, nine, compared to your usual self. I've seen crazier."

* * *

_Entry 3 - Sugar Rush_

_Kairi tried doing her job as my best friend, trying to rid me of a lazy morning by shoving three litres of sugared energy drink down my throat and I ended up being nominated class rep, playing the MVP in netball and passing out. In the end, it was me and Roxas at a lunch table and him denying that he has feelings for a girl named Xion, who seems like a pretty good friend so far. Kairi and Shiki have planned a pool part this weekend too. I wonder what's going to happen._

* * *

**Thank you for reading. This chapter wasn't too long but I hope you enjoyed knowing that Namine beat everyone today. And about the cats, it's a cameo for my own ones. They're so cute, I couldn't resist! Sorry if you're not really a cat person.**

**Please _Review_, it'll mean a lot and I'll update soon! ^3^**


	4. The Sound Of Teen Spirit

**Kairi and Shiki are throwing their pool party taking place in Demyx's old beach house and a series of various events take place, kind of like a string of really short one shots. Some delusional decorating, pool preparation, swimsuit switching and gullible gaming are all part of the plan!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Heart, Final Fantasy or The World Ends With You; It's all from Square Enix. Also, the Play Nation 4 game console used toward the end is just Sony's Play Station 4, which I also own no right over.**

**And lastly, Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Sound of Teen Spirit

"Roxas give back the tape!" Namine shouted, tugging at the loop shaped tape holder.

"Never! I had it first so I get to use it!"

"Stop whining! I need to put up the streamer!"

"Go make food like a woman!"

"Maybe I should make you a poop sandwich!"

"Just give me the tape!"

"Let go of it!"

"STOP!" Kairi yelled, karate chopping the two pulling hands, causing the blonds to fall over. "You guys have been arguing over stupid things for two hours! Just shut up and get the house ready for the party!"

"I was trying to but he was-"

"No!"

"She kept on taking the-"

"No! And here I thought you two were getting along. Sora!" Kairi yelled toward the backyard.

"What?" Sora replied, walking inside and making himself to the living room.

"I'll take care of the pool prep. Can you babysit the morons? I think it's your shift for it anyway."

"But I don't want to take care of them. They'll just drag me into their argument!"

"Does my face look like it cares?"

"No?"

"Then that probably means I don't care." Kairi said gently, walking passed him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"One minute she's yelling, the next she kisses me. That girl makes no sense..." Sora sighed with a slight laugh. "So what was the argument this time?"

"Roxas here won't give me the tape."

"Yeah, because I had it first."

"Gimme that. There. Problem solved. Now you two can get the snacks ready. I'll get Neku to help with decorations." Once Neku had come, he and Sora discussed how their girlfriends forced them to help with the party preparations. Roxas and Kairi were glaring at each other the whole time while wiping the kitchen table and setting up plastic cups. Shiki walked into the room with a smile that dies when she looked at the two.

"Ugh, I can feel the bad atmosphere. What is up with you two? Who guys act so different around each other than what I heard about you. Namine's meant to be a sweet and caring good friend and Roxas is supposed to be the funny, childish guy who is easy to relate to. Yet, your both giving each other death glares!"

"Well, from week of experience I've had with Roxas, I've noticed that we're not exactly two peas in a pod." Namine sighed, taking the last two litre bottle of fizzy drink out of a plastic bag. "Shiki we're out of drinks."

"Oh, Axel and Demyx should be back with the shopping soon. You two can take a break for now and tell if Riku comes back from work."

"Sure thing." Roxas added, slumping down into a chair, taking a breath of relief. As soon as Shiki left the room, the doorbell and the bickering blonds groaned. "I'll get it." Roxas offered.

Opening the front door letting in some morning sunshine. Axel and Larxene stood at the door. As always, Larxene had a sour look on her face and left carrying the shopping to Axel. "Hey Roxas can you help me get the rest out of the car?" Axel asked.

"Get out of the way." Larxene said, shoving passed and lying down on the sofa, as though she deserved to relax while everyone was hard at work.

"_She's_ not in a good mood either?" Roxas said, taking the shopping from Axel as the two walked to the car.

"Well, it's probably that time of the month, you know?"

"What?"

"You'll know when you get a girlfriend. Any who, make sure you unload all this stuff, or the two party divas will come and hunt me down with their purses like the terminator. Got it memorised?" Axel joked as the two picked up the plastic bags.

"Yeah, yeah." Roxas laughed, "It's been a while though since we've all had a party. It'll be nice to meet everyone again."

"I miss the good times too when we were all in the same school."

* * *

Meanwhile, Namine was busy creeping up behind Sora and Neku, looking for an opportunity to grab the tape and sneak out to the living room, where should could continue decorating in an artistic and well thought-out manner, unlike Roxas who'd be sticking them together to make shapes. "One, two, three and..." Namine pounced forward and grabbed the holder, then manoeuvred herself out of the way in a flash.

She had good practice with things like this from the times she, Kairi and Sora would play Ninjas as kids. _'Looks like Sora's out of practise.' _Namine thought, feeling rather pleased with her childishness.

At which point, Namine had sausage rolled into a pair of legs, belonging to Kairi. "Namine, what are you doing? Quit acting like Sora."

"Sorry, force of habit, I guess." She chuckled, awkwardly. Kairi gave Namine her signature, 'Get off the carpet or I'll flick you in the face in a friendly fashion' stare.

"Namine, we've got more food. Get of the floor and help me set them out." Roxas said. Namine did as asked out of embarrassment and everybody went back to their lives. Axel had helped Namine pour some of the drinks whilst Roxas continued setting out cups.

"So," Axel said to Namine, "When did you start living here at Destiny Island?"

"Last week. In a word, the time here has been hectic. Roxas has...been a handful for the most part."

"Xion says that about him too sometimes."

"I was wondering, how do all of you know each other anyways? It's like you're all tied together from completely different places. I mean, your a few years older than all of us."

"It's a long story, but it all start with Sora, Riku, Kairi and Roxas. Those four are like the basis of the whole tree of friends." Axel explained.

"That actually makes sense. Those guys have been introducing me to people all week! Like you for example." Namine said, feeling a little grateful that she actually had friends who could help her meet new people. Back at Twilight Town, Namine was a lot quieter and life was a lot simpler and plain, but had a warm feeling. With everyone at Destiny Islands, everyday was a weird day.

"I'm bored with drinks. It's sucks. You wanna go look at the pool? I haven't seen it yet."

"Neither have I. Kairi's been keeping me locked in the house doing chores."

"Sounds like typical Kairi work plans." Axel turned to Roxas and invited him to see the readied pool. The three walked outside to the backyard, greeting by the beautiful blue reflection of the sky in the waters depths. The swimming pool was so large that it actually made the three envious of Demyx for once owning the house.

"Why would anyone sell a house with such an amazing pool?!" Namine asked, crouching down and tracing her fingers in the water.

"Demyx loves water, so he bought a house with an even bigger pool." Axel explained.

"Where does he get the money for such houses?"

"His dad's a flippin' millionaire. The guy gets whatever he wants." Axel laughed. The three sat down on the ready deck chairs and lay in the open sun. Namine wasn't the kind of person who preferred a tan, so a layer of sunscreen that she'd worn before hand was best for her.

"You know sunlight actually gives you Vitamin D?" Namine stated.

"How does light have vitamins in it?" Roxas asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's like photosynthesis."

"It's been a while since I learnt that crap in school." Axel said, though it was a little blunt, he was simply reminiscing. "It might not seem like it, but Larxene was a little nerdy scientist like Zexion back in the day. She probably knows all about the nutritious sunlight."

"Really?" Namine asked, with amusement lingering in her voice. Although she'd only seen Larxene, she was well aware of her personality.

"Yeah. I have to go for now. Got big boy stuff to do. See ya guys." Axel waved goodbye and left Roxas and Namine to their laziness.

"Roxas, I just realised that over the week, despite all the time I end up wasting with you, your still the friend I know least."

"You consider me a friend?"

"What, don't you consider me one?"

"You could say that. Wait, you think you know Riku and Sora better than you know me?"

"Yeah. I've known Sora for years since he and Kairi were close. I've only talked to Riku a few times as a kid, but coming here was the first time I was told you even existed."

"Ouch. You didn't even know I was Sora's brother? Well, I guess I didn't know you and Kairi were so close."

"Did you know that Riku used to be a total ladies man?"

"He told you about those days?"

"Kairi did. She said around a year or two back he was like that, then he suddenly stopped half way through last year."

"Yeah, I wonder what happened. It didn't seem like something that he'd just drop." Roxas said, picking up a full glass of lemonade and sipping it from the straw, avoiding the little cocktail umbrella that spun. Looking at the way it was made, the drink was probably one Sora was planning on having.

"I think he probably found a girl he liked. Why else would he stop?" Namine suggested.

"Riku? Liking a girl? I haven't really seen him show interest in anyone for a long time."

"Personally, I think you both like Xion."

Roxas was stunned by the words and had the biggest, sparkliest and most fountain-like spit take in existence. Namine leaned back in her chair, opened mouthed at the phenomenal sight. "Dude, that was pretty awesome. I should have taken a picture."

"You think we both like Xion?!"

* * *

An hour had passed and the first batch of guests arrived. Namine was on doorman (or doorwoman) duty, greeting everyone who arrived. At first, it was mostly people she'd already met like Xion and Olette and the gang, but slowly there were people she'd seen only once or not at all.

"Hello, and welcome to the party. Names please?" Namine asked the three who'd entered.

"Selphie, Tidus and Wakka." said the girl in a yellow sun dress. The same question was asked to the next three.

"I'm Yuna, this is Rikku, spelt with a double 'k' and Paine." said the dark haired girl.

Eventually, the rooms were packed with guest and the checklist of names was just a few away from complete and the whole place looked like a fully fledged party. Riku went over to Namine and said, "You've done enough work, you can start having fun now!"

Namine smiled and replied, "I'll come out to the pool after I put on my swimsuit." Riku's cheeks tinted pink from her words and he turned away, saying he'd see her soon. A clueless Namine went up the stairs to get her bag, then went to the bathroom to get changed. She put the bag down and unzipped it, then rummaged through it, searching for her swimsuit.

The only swimwear inside wasn't her one piece navy one, but a baby blue bikini top and matching swim shorties. "What the- When did it undergo some mystical transformation?!" She yelled, staring at the cloths she held away from her head. After a moment, she realised something. "Kairi! Ugh, that girl. I'm ganna get her for this!"

Knowing she had no choice, she got dressed into the swimsuit and threw on a hoodie. "Why do I still feel so naked...?" she said to herself. Without a sign of hesitation, Namine zipped her bag, threw it in a safe room and ran all the way downstairs, battling her way through crowds of acquaintances until she finally reached the backyard pool. Kairi was already dressed in her two piece, enjoying herself, sitting by the water, until she spotted the murderous look in Namine's eyes and caught on to the situation.

"Sora, keep Namine away!" she shrieked, diving into the water, thinking she was safe.

"I'M GANNA GET YOU!" Namine yelled, running to the poolside, tempted to run in at grab the red head, until Sora got up and held her back. He grabbed the angry girl and they spun a few times until Namine stopped resisting.

"Namine! What happened?" Sora asked soothingly, in an attempt to calm her down.

"Kairi tampered with my choice of swimwear!"

"What?" Riku asked. She explained the situation in a fancy way.

"She was going to bring her old, ugly swimming costume so I gave her a new one." Kairi said innocently.

"Yeah, you go through my bag and switch my clothes! Did you even bring my old one?"

"Ha! You accept my one as your new one! And no, I left it over at your house."

"So how am I going to swim!?"

"You're wearing one underneath aren't you?" Sora asked, clueless to why Namine was really upset.

"Sora, there's a reason I came out here without the jumper." she said, "Figure out the rest yourself." The poor boy turned his up to the sky, still looking very confused, thinking, _'Why are girls so complicated?'_

It only took a few moments for everything to die down, and more people were entering the pool. It looked like Kairi and Shiki had a lot of friends. A lot. Namine decided to go back indoors and get a drink. When you try getting revenge on your best friend, you tend to be left parched. _'But not Head Bull again, been there, done that.'_

* * *

She rambled her way the laughing, chattering and even some crowds who were singing along to the music, blocking her ears of the loud party tunes pumping from the occupied living room. As she had finally reached the various snacks, she saw a familiar unwanted party crasher. "What are you doing here?" she asked, weary of saying his name. She didn't want to admit that he was here because she wasn't on doorman duty.

"Namine, I thought you'd be here. Why aren't you wearing trousers?"

"Such a rude question Seifer. I'm wearing my swimsuit, you know, because this is a pool party. And 'pool 'implies 'water', if that makes sense!"

"Don't be such a twig - Wanna hang here with me?" Namine twitched her eye at both things he'd just said. _'A Twig?!'_

_"_Actually," she said, trying to think up an excuse, "I was over with my friends at the pool. Too busy, right?"

"Your completely dry. You never actually got in the pool so how can you swim with them?" He said, sneering.

"Well I have to serve drinks to the wet guests! It's also good bonding with friends of my friends."

"Aren't I a friend?" he asked, with a smirk that sort of creeped out Namine.

"No Seifer, you're neither a friend nor a _guest_, so I suggest you leave now."

"Come on, you don't want me to go." he whispered, taking a lock of her hair. She smacked his hand away. She didn't show it, but her hand actually hurt a lot from hitting him.

"I'm not going to be all shy when it matters. Leave!" Namine demanded.

"Make me." His words didn't match his voice. He was still messing around.

"Since you're not listening, I need to take drastic measures." Namine turned around to go call her friends, when Seifer grabbed her wrist.

"Getting help isn't _you_ making me leave." Namine knew she physically wasn't stronger, but she was in a house full of people she knows and could help her. Seifer was the foolish one for confronting her.

"Quit it man. Harassing a girl is _not_ cool." A young man said, stepping between the two and pushing Seifer away. Namine look up and saw someone who was few years older, around the same as Axel and Larxene and holding a huge blue sitar and had sandy blond. It was official, Destiny Islands, was full of weirdoes.

"Fine then, whatever." Seifer said gruffly, releasing Namine. As he left the room, Roxas and Riku were already 'escorting' him out of the house.

"Thanks, for helping to get rid of him, and helping me." Namine said, smiling nervously, "So are you a friend of Axel?"

"Yep. The name's Demyx, the fine owner of this very house. Well, the previous owner." He said, making Namine laugh.

"Okay, so you have a gigantic pool and I heard you love water. Like how Axel loves fire? That's what I've heard."

"Bingo, you got it right. And I'm sorry that butt had to ruin things for you a little. You should come out to the pool while the sun is still out. I know water always cheers me up."

"I'm a little shy in my swimwear. Kairi switched my old one out with a different one, the one I'm wearing underneath."

"Your among friends, so it's okay. Just give a shot, you know? Try something new. At least that's what I'd do."

"That rhymed!"

"Oh not this _again_."

* * *

So everyone went back to the pool again and Namine had fun watching Demyx laugh his head off because he was enjoying the water so much. Hero for two minutes, four year old the next.

Namine on the other hand was having even less fun. Sitting on her right and left sides were Roxas and Riku. Both silent. Namine couldn't take the awkwardness anymore. She had to do something. Something fun (though she'd often felt that guys would try to entertain the girls, and not so much the other way around). "Hey, you guys. What's wrong?" She asked, nervously.

There was a silence. "Did Seifer do anything to you?" Roxas asked, sounding worried.

"Demyx told us he wasn't leaving you alone when you told him to." Riku added.

"Oh, is that it? You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine! I could have taken care of things anyway. So aren't you going to swim?"

"Aren't you?" They said, the gloomy unison freaked Namine out. She tried laughing it off, to no avail.

"If I go, will you both go?"

"Yes." They said. That same gloomy unison...

"Geez, I think I know what it's like being an older sister now. Stupid little brothers!" She sighed and tossed her hair to one side, then took off her jumper and folded it up as best she could. "There. Now stop being all - this! This is not what I expect from you two." To Namine's surprise, the two boys didn't look so much happy, but stared at her for a moment and stopped as soon as their faces hit maximum pinkness. "You guys, is everything okay?" Namine asked.

"Yeah, it's just that you look..."

"So..."

"Bad?" Namine suggested.

"No," Roxas murmured shyly.

Then Riku added, "The opposite."

Now Namine was blushing like crazy and the three sat in complete, pink-faced, silence. Having the bad timing that he did, Sora walked over with a happy, cheesy, unsuspecting grin on his face that he always had. "Hey guys, how's it go-" Sora stopped when he entered the bubble of silent atmosphere.

"Sora! Call Them over already. What's the problem?" Kairi called.

"Let's go you guys! No more sad faces should be a rule around here." Sora pouted. The three followed a the marching boy back to the water where the Kairi awaited them.

* * *

As Demyx had promised, the water did make everyone forget everything and feel better. The whole place had felt a lot more eventful when she understood why everyone was laughing like an idiot, or chasing each other in the water like headless chickens, but all good things come to an end and the Kairi had closed the pool once night had come, so the party was taken inside.

As excitable as she was, Kairi knew leaving a load of wild teenagers out at night was _not_ a good idea and the rest of the party planners knew the same. Namine, Kairi, Shiki and Selphie had gotten out earlier to get ready and start cleaning up the yard. "Okay, so Shiki and I will take care of cleaning up the bits and bobs as well as pool toys, Selphie and Namine will get everyone who doesn't have one a towel and get them inside the building. Got it?"

"Yes!" the girls agreed simultaneously, though Namine was putting on her hoodie so her voice was muffled out. Whilst Kairi and Shiki were tidying, Namine led Selphie through the house to the room with the spare towels. As they picked up as many as they could, they talked.

"So how long have you known Kairi and the others?" Namine asked.

"Well, I've known them since we were kids, all in the same class and stuff, but we only really become closer over time. What about you?"

"I only properly know Kairi, and Sora second. I'm getting there with the others."

"I got an idea, it'll be like a treat for you since your kind of new."

"What did you have in mind?"

Selphie laughed evilly, "Your looking at the Queen of Pranks, Namine...All you need to do is find another girl to help us and..." The rest of the plan was whispered into Namine's ear, signifying the beginning of a strange new friendship, and something devious...

* * *

So after Selphie and Namine completed their goal as sheep herders and rounded up the pool people. Everything had finally settled down and a quite a few people had to leave since it was pretty getting late. Kairi and Shiki were giving goodbyes to people who left, it was a duty of someone who wishes to host a party.

Everybody who was left gathered into the living room and Riku, Axel and Larxene had started setting up a video game tournament on the huge TV screen. They plugged in the Play Nation 4 and had a whole stack of video games ready.

"Where did you guys get all of this?" Namine asked, picking up a controller and inspecting it.

"Demyx had all this stuff left over so we thought we'd use it to the very end." Riku replied.

"So, you think you can play any of these games?" Roxas asked Namine, with a smirk pulling on his lips.

"Y-Yeah. I'm pretty sure I could do it. Just takes common sense and a little getting used to."

"I disagree. It takes the skill of a pro gamer, and unlike you, I am one." Roxas grinned, snatching the controller off Namine.

"What about you, Riku? What do you think?" Namine asked, looking for back up.

"I think the same as Roxas." Added the silver haired one.

"Are you boys going to put your money where your mouth is? Though I don't mean it literally, and don't want to bet anything." Namine said.

"If we do have a contest, the winner should get a prize, or something." Riku suggested.

"Hmm...How about a walloping big bowl of ice cream?" Selphie suggested, her presence seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Sound like a good idea." Roxas said, and the two blonds exchanges looks of confidence while Riku continued setting up the TV.

"It can't be two on one, so let me pick a partner." Namine said, scanning the room was a suitable companion. "How about Xion?"

"She's a pro too, but there's still no way the two of us can lose!" Roxas cheered.

So they four sat down, controllers in hand as the game loaded to the main menu and the spectators cheered. It was a fighting game, something Namine didn't play, but she didn't pay it much attention to what she was doing either. She chose a male character, since the female ones were a bit... inappropriate.

Anyway the game went on and the girls had one the first round. "In your face Roxas, Riku! In. Your. Face!" Kairi yelled, in support of Namine and Xion. Xion was the reason they were doing well, but in the end, the boys had won the last two round by a landslide.

"Oh yeah! We so knew we would win. That first round was beginners luck!" Roxas cheered, raising his arms in victory.

"It was to be expected though." Riku said, cool and calm, unlike Roxas, who had just joined the victory dance club.

"Yeah, yeah, bathe in the joy of beating two females, one being a beginner. Boys, have fun with your ice cream!" Namine said. Everyone made room for the winners and Selphie handed the boys two silver spoons. They had the honour of each eating the massive bowls (Though Riku would probably half just half, since he had his workouts to keep in check).

With one giant scoop, the two indulged in creamy, cold, vanilla goodness. Namine, Xion and Selphie watched, smiling. Seconds had passed ad suddenly the two boys were jumping up and down, flapping air into their mouths and screaming for water. "I-It's so hot! It's so hooooot!"

"Water! Get me some water!" They shrieked, until finally they ran to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of cooling water bottles and guzzled them down, panting for air.

The whole time, the three girls were laughing their heads of at the sight of the biggest epic fail they've witnessed. "How does it feel now, huh?" Xion laughed. The whole room of people laughed, realising what just happened.

"Yeah, talk about a spoon-fool." Namine added. The room went silent and you could hear a cricket chirping in the distance.

"Anyway, we planned the whole thing." Selphie giggled.

"Selphie got the ice cream ready while Xion and I tricked you into thinking you were going to have a delicious treat. We lost on purpose, in case you geniuses haven't noticed."

"We would have definitely beaten you. You should know how good I am at these games!" Xion said, feeling a little underestimated by her friends.

"What did you put in the ice cream?" Riku asked, still panting, "I'm never eating that stuff again. I'm officially scarred for life."

"It was just a extra super spicy Mexican chilli hot sauce and chilli powder." Selphie laughed, "Man up already."

* * *

_Entry 4 - A Wave of Teen Spirit_

_So today was a lot more fun and unexpected than I though. It started out with my usual arguments with Roxas then I met Axel and Larxene. Then Seifer came in an attempt to ruin things, and Demyx had helped me out big time. It felt kind of wieird when Roxas and Riku were worried for me. I felt grateful, but still like I was a burden. I don't want to have that feeling again._

_Oh, and then there was Kairi switching out my swimwear in an attempt to do me a favour. I got mad but ended up swimming anyway. It was a lot more fun than I thought. Lastly, there was the pranking with Selphie and Xion. The faces Riku and Roxas made were priceless! And the spit take Roxas did was worthy of some world record, to bad I didn't take a picture._

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I really overdid it with the length; Over 4,700 Words (minus the authors messages)! I wish I could say Over 9,000, but that would be way too exaggerated. So thank you for sticking around, and I'm sorry if Roxas x Namine didn't progress as much as you hoped. This was more for Riku, Selphie, Axel and the gang. As well as showing what a priss Seifer is (^o^) and introducing Shiki and Neku. But, I promise the next chapter will be all about Roxas & Namine getting to know each other and getting some funny alone time.**

**Please Review and Fav. Oh - and shout out to **_Go Men123, MagicallyDeliciousLuckyCharms, dragonhero45 **and** ohnoitskate**! **_**For following, reviewing or favouriting! Next chapter coming soon!**


	5. You Make Me Act Stupid

**I'm back again with the 5th chapter! Roxas and Namine spend some quality time together, doing stupid stuff as well as annoying their friends. *Makes Troll Face* I'm going to try and actually read through the chapters _properly_ for grammar mistakes from now on. Reading the last few chapters, I noticed that I made a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes and they're bugging me a lot.**

**Remember to review and subscribe! Okay I'll stop talking so you can read. :)**

**The Disclaimer Stands.**

* * *

Chapter 5: You Make Me Act Stupid

Namine opened her eyes after several weak blinks and tilted her head to stare at her beeping alarm clock. "Seven in the morning?" she said groggily, slamming her hand on the off button. Her cat Holmes got on her bed and tapped Namine her on the shoulder. "Not now, cat. I'm trying to sleep..." She moaned, suddenly hearing a giggle. "Holmes, did you do that?"

"How's it going blondie?" Said Kairi, popping up from her crouching position, revealing that she was holding the poor cat like he was a puppet. "You look like a hangover from last night."

"What? There was alcohol there?"

"Of course not, I'm not so irresponsible. Though Axel and the older guys had some after we left."

"I don't care... How did you get into my house?"

"Your mum's an early bird to. She let me in."

"Why are you here then?"

"To tell you that Roxas and Sora are going to babysit you today!"

Namine jolted up from her bed. "What?! Why?"

"Just in case you haven't noticed, you've been feverish since we came back last night. Your mum checked and you've got a high temperature and you refused to eat anything before you went to sleep because of a tummy ache. Don't you remember, from yesterday?"

"No. I really don't. And if I am ill, why wouldn't my mum taking care of me?"

"She's going to a business trip with your dad today and Riku, Xion and I have work so we can't be here for you. You know, because we actually have jobs, down at the Destiny Grill. We need money for stuff."

"Seriously? Well, can't I just come and hang around. I don't even feel sick." Namine said, attempting to get out of bed and then coughed several times.

"I told you so. So do you want them to come here or you to go there?"

"Maybe I'll stay here. At least I have Detective Holmes and Echo to keep my company."

"Quite acting like my grandma." said Kairi, looking at a text that glared from her phone, "Oh, looks like I've gotta go. They'll be here in a second."

"Why Roxas of all people? How can two boys play nurses anyway?" Kairi laughed at the thought of the two dressed in nurse uniforms, but Namine was staring at her, unknowing to the limits of Kairi's imagination.

* * *

Namine combed her hair and washed up her face and whatnot then went downstairs once Kairi had left. She decide to get creative and poured in the milk and cereal at the same time. She felt as though she was a witch with a cauldron and two cats.

The door bell rang and Namine took her time over, and opened the door. "Hey morons. How's it going?"

"Badly." said Roxas walking straight in, "Thanks to Kairi, Xion and Riku's concern for you, we're stuck here with you the whole day! And I don't want to catch your cold or whatever."

"It's not like I really wanted you to come either, smart guy. Go on home, next door. You don't need to take care of me. This whole thing is a load of fuss for nothing. Doing things on my own, unassisted, is what being an independent woman means."

"The funny thing is, you'd get in trouble all the time if it wasn't for everyone caring for you."

"Yeah says you."

"Okay," Sora interrupted, "can you guys not do this every time we see each other? If that's even possible."

"Sorry, Sora, but it was his fault." Namine said. "Hey, you guys want breakfast? I made a bowl of cereal."

"Wow, thanks. A bowl of cereal, just want I wanted." Roxas said, sarcastically.

"It's not for you! For me. Can you guys feed the cats too?" Namine said, sneezing.

"Wait, you've got the sniffles too? Don't worry Namine, I'll make food for the three of us!" Sora cheered, almost heroically, "Roxas, you feed the cat peoples. They're waiting."

Roxas stared at the two cats who were hopping down the stairs from a distance. "No way. Every time I go near one of those things, they go rabid and try to kill me, like I'm their mortal enemy."

Namine scoffed, "Like kitten, like owner. They must get it from me."

"Yeah, from the artistic cat lady. Have you had your medicine yet?" Roxas asked.

"I woke up like five minutes ago, so no." Namine said, walking to the living room where the sofa and TV was. The kitchen was connected to the living room so technically, they were still in the same room.

"Okay, Kairi just texted me saying you needed the cough medicine." Roxas said, unscrewing the little medicine bottle's lid and pouring some of the liquid onto a spoon.

"Wait, no, I hated that nasty stuff ever since I first had it!" Namine yelled. Roxas crept closer with the jelly like, brown liquid on the measuring spoon. Namine stared at it and screamed, "Never!" Running off down the hallway hiding herself in the bathroom. "That stuff tastes like everything bad in the world!"

Sora called from the kitchen saying, "Roxas, you can leave it. That stuff gets you high. Tell Namine I made waffles!"

"Waffles?" Namine said softly, slowly opening the door.

"Yep." Roxas said, then smiled realising something, "Who would have known you were such a kid?"

"Oh, shut up. It's normal to like things that taste good." She said, standing up and opening the door fully and walking past Roxas who followed her quickly. All three of them sat down and Namine had a double breakfast of cereal and waffles. A bit of each. Roxas called her fat and she gave him a friendly punch on the arm. Sora began explaining the story of how he learnt how to make waffles, starting from the time he accidentally spilt the waffle mixture onto Kairi, ending with the two of them spitting out the finished pancakes because they used lots of salt instead of sugar.

"Why did you use the salt?" Namine asked.

"I don't know. We were nine. White powdery stuff looked like sugar, so we used it." Sora said, making Namine and Roxas give a short laugh at how believable it was for Sora to make such a stupid mistake. Roxas finished his food first, considering his chewing was at sonic speed, and he looked around the living room and flipped through TV channels hoping to find something to do.

"Namine, your house is officially boring. Finish your food already so I can annoy you."

"That makes me want to eat even slower. Besides," she sneezed, "slower eating is better."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever...Oh, I've got an idea."

"What is it, genius?" Namine interrupted.

"Let's go to the Destiny Grill and annoy Xion and the others at work. It'll be funny. She'll get so pissed and try to kick us out."

"Roxas, your forgetting that we're here to help Namine." Sora added.

"That's why we should take her with us!"

"But-"

"No buttocks, Sora." he said. Namine and Sora muffled their laughs at 'the word'. "And go get ready, Namine, you look like a homeless person in your sick clothes."

"Yeah, I know, Roxas. But I'm worried Kairi will be mad with you guys if I go." Namine argued.

"Or she could be happy to see her friends. And sitting around all day is the worst thing an ill person can do. And Namine, if you got any homework you haven't done, bring that too. Riku can finish it for you." Roxas said, persuading the two responsible ones into thinking it was a good idea. They gave in to the idea and Namine got ready into a light white dress wearing navy blue leggings and red canvas shoes, while the boys just threw on their jackets and were ready to go.

"Why are we doing this again?" Namine complained.

"To annoy hard working people." Sora answered with a grin. Namine questioned what was going through her head when she agreed to this whole plan. Though she had taken some of her humanities homework that she needed help on. She heard from Sora and Namine before that Riku helped with homework, and she had gotten his help before, him being the brains of the group. She would have asked her teacher for assistance, but Mr Sephiroth wasn't exactly the kind of teacher who'd give you a lollipop and a smile once you've understood something correctly.

The three had managed to walk over to the cafe without any trouble and the opened the door letting the wind chime echo throughout the building. As normal customers would, the three went to the counter and waited for one of their unsuspecting friends to come. Xion walked opposite the counter saying, "Hello, how may I help you?" she raised her head seeing a smiling Roxas, a tired Namine and an unwilling Sora. "Not you guys. I thought Kairi told you to take care of her!"

"Maybe we should get her some coffee." Sora said, putting some money on the table top.

"Roxas, you should have known better." Xion said angrily, "And you too Sora. Geez, this is probably what Kairi meant when she was pacing around in the staff room this morning. She's worried and so am I. Are you okay Namine?"

"I've been better, but a coffee would be nice." Namine said sweetly. Xion grabbed a cup and began making drinks for the 'customers' as they talked.

"So, I'm guessing the ulterior motive was to annoy us at work." said Riku, walking in from the food prep room.

"Actually that was these guys' plan. I got dragged into it." Namine said, in an attempt to leave herself out of any trouble. "They said you give me homework help, so I thought I'd come along."

Riku laughed and said to Roxas and Sora, "You two really know how to take advantage of me."

"Well, you learn from the best." Sora said, pointing at Roxas.

"Hey! I just came for the coffee."

"Sure you did."

* * *

Everything went well from there. Three of them did the job they were actually hired to do whilst the others went around annoying them. It was split into pairs, sort of. Namine annoyed Riku, Sora annoyed Kairi and Roxas annoyed Xion. Then it all back fired and Roxas started annoying Namine.

Most of the day went that way until it the brink of sunset came. "Hey, guys, I think I'm going to go home for the day. Thanks though." Namine said, putting on her jacket and getting ready to leave.

"Can't you hang around a little longer?" Sora asked.

"Nah, I'm feeling a little tired. I guess I'm still a little sick."

"I'll walk you home, if you want." Roxas suggested shyly. Namine had the feeling he wasn't just joking around so she accepted his offer with gratitude and the two left together. She was confused for a few moments, wondering why he'd even bother walking her home when he could be with all of their friends, since she had the idea he wasn't too fond of her. She started thinking about how Sora and Xion said that she just had to get to know Roxas to like him. But then again, she didn't even know him too well either.

"Hey Roxas, how come you wanted to walk me home?" She finally said. Roxas looked a little startled.

"Uh, I don't know. I guess I just felt like it."

"No way, there has to be something going on in that head of yours. You could have stayed with everyone else, right?"

"So then you would be at home by yourself for hours until your parents come back. That doesn't sound to great."

"You were concerned? I thought you didn't like me."

"It's not that I don't_ like_ you. It's just... I don't know what to do around you. Or how to act. How do I say this right... You make me act stupid."

"Why thank you. I definitely enjoy that." The two laughed and in a short while, they'd reached Namine's new house. Roxas and Namine went to Namine's room and talked the entire time as Roxas sat on her desk chair, spinning around childishly. Roxas made cheesy yet laughable jokes for the most part and Namine got angry and annoyed in a good way. From the third person, they looked like a comedy duo from a cartoon.

Once Namine's parents came back, Roxas was thanked by Namine's mother, explaining that Sora had to leave early and her father went straight to bed, tired from a long ride.

The entire night Namine was thinking about how she was rethinking her whole image of Roxas. Maybe she wasn't such an annoying, inconsiderate doofus after all.

* * *

_Entry 5: Coffee Shop Sunday_

_So I woke up today an Kairi told me I was ill and that Sora and Roxas were going to take care of me. I freaked, obviously, but I was only with them for breakfast when Roxas decided we would go to the Destiny Grill and annoy Xion, Riku and Kairi while they were working. It was pretty fun and my illness went away pretty quick. But when I wanted to go, Roxas offered to come with me. I thought it was pretty weird at first, but maybe Roxas isn't such a bad guy after all._

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I hope you liked the ending too, more of a RokuxNami moment thing. Thanks to everyone who has favourited, followed and or reviewed! Next chapter could be late, just saying.**


	6. Wish Upon A Hundred Stars

**Sorry it's been very late, I've been very busy! Future chapters are going to come every week-ish from now since school is going to start again and I am writing up chapters for another story too, but it's on the side. The theme of the chapter is a little different, but I hope it was kind of original (I hope) Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Wish Upon A Hundred Stars

Namine, Roxas, Riku, Xion and Olette sat in their seats trying not to talk to each other as Ms Gainsborough entered the room and wrote the day's discussion topic on the board.

"Good morning class, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I have a special announcement today. The astronomy and history societies in Destiny Islands have organised a once-in-a-life-time event to watch the Destiny Meteor Shower! Amazingly, it only comes around every seventy-two years. Everyone is encouraged to come and it's completely free. Not to mention our school will be having a lot of activities organised by our student council's committee."

Roxas immediately began scribbling something down on a piece of paper and passed it to Namine. It read: _'Our Student Council executive is Kairi! She's definitely going to make us help out...' _Namine turned to Roxas and smiled then put the paper into her bag.

The day went fairly well and Namine had maths, English and humanities. Kairi immediately went to Namine after the last lesson and said, "So your coming right?"

"To what?"

"The thing! The meteor shower celebrations thing! Shiki and I are the organisers in charge of school activities and you should help out the committee. We've only got three days, you know!"

"Fine, fine. I'll help. Looks like Roxas was right."

"About what?"

"About you asking me to help. But personally, I am pretty excited too. I've never actually seen shooting stars in real life." Kairi looked at her friend with a shocked stare.

"They're amazing at Destiny Islands. Trust me. There's no other place more awesome to watch them at night."

* * *

The next school day had come and Namine and her friends were told by Ms Gainsborough to go to an art classroom. The group was completely clueless as to why. They walked together to said classroom. "What do you think we were called for?" Xion asked.

"Kairi and Shiki probably did something stupid and dragged us into it." Riku said. Namine trusted his answer.

"You know, every time you give your thought on what will happen, it's always right. You're like a psychic." Namine said in amazement. Olette and Xion laughed and the group arrived at the room.

Sora opened the door and the friends entered a whole art classroom filled with people they knew, and Kairi and Shiki standing at the front beside Mrs Lockhart. "You guys! Your finally here!" Kairi said, running up to them and giving Sora a hug. Mrs Lockhart gave a smirk but shouted something.

"Yes, yes it's a beautiful reunion. How about we get back to the meeting?"

"Sorry, Mrs Lockhart." Kairi said.

Riku frowned. "I hate it when I'm right. This is a meeting about that meteor thing isn't it?"

"Yup! And we can get along with it once you guys take a seat." She smiled, leading them to an empty table. Kairi went back up to the front again and Mrs Lockhart said that they would be in groups dealing with certain tasks. Namine and the others listened with an certain amount of care while Roxas was poking Namine on the shoulder the whole time.

"So I think it's best to just keep the groups at the tables everyone is sitting on." Shiki said, "And feel free to work in pairs too. Kairi will come around with a sheet stating everybody's group tasks. We have to get this done by Wednesday. Two days tops!"

Kairi passed picked up the sheets she was meant to hand out and immediately ran over to Namine's table. "You guys can definitely be painting and making decorations. Namine can be in charge too. And don't worry," Kairi said, folding the sheet and chucking it onto the table. Then calling Hayner, "You can have an extra person so the pairs are even." They all watched as she skipped off to another table and a confused Hayner sat down beside them wondering why he was called.

"Okay, so apparently I'm in charge. I think it's a good idea to go in pairs like Shiki said. Working on different sections in smaller groups." Namine suggested and Roxas faced was drawn into a smile. "How about...Xion and Roxas, Riku and I, and I assume Olette and Hayner would be together," Namine said, making the pair sitting opposite to her blush.

Roxas sat in his sit with a strange look on his face. Part worried, part confused, part upset, part nervous. Like a preteen girl.

* * *

The day went by and Roxas seemed...impassive. Namine had for once, experienced a typical school day since coming to Destiny Islands because of the absence of Roxas's childishness. But things seemed a little_ too_ different. She had to go find out what happened. Just as their last lesson ended, Namine caught up with Roxas. "Hey, is something wrong? You've been boring all day."

"Tired, I guess."

"Oh come on. Whenever someone isn't being their self, 'tired' is always a big fat lie."

"I never got much sleep, okay?" He said, giving a slightly fake smile.

"So, you come into school your usual excitable self and you expect me to believe you leave like...this?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Something happened in the committee meeting, right?" Roxas was silent. "I'm right, aren't I? That was when you became 'tired'." Again, a silence. "Well, now that I've got some clues, I'm going to get to the bottom of it. Good day, Roxas." She said confidently, patting him on the head just to patronise him.

"I don't think the bottom is where you want to be." Roxas said slyly. Namine turned around as she walked away shook her fist like an old lady in an attempt to be angry but laughed instead.

* * *

"So, you left angrily shaking your fist and laughing?" Kairi said, pacing around the empty space in the living room.

"Yeah, that was pretty much where it ended and I called you to come to my house. And here we are." Namine said, turning off the TV so the girls could talk. They were currently undergoing an investigation on what was up with Roxas. The two tended to get excited when something like this happened.

"From what I've deduced," Kairi said, stroking her hairless chin as though she had a beard of sorts, "we need to talk to - the suspects!"

"And that would be?"

"The people in your committee decoration group! Riku, Xion, Hayner and Olette."

"Right. So where do we start?"

"Is that even a question?" Kairi said, grinning, taking out fake smoking pipe and a two Sherlock Holmes hats. Namine gave a cheesy smile and held back a laugh at the memories. It was something Namine and Kairi did as kids as well as making Sora play a dog for them.

"Thanks. So where do we start now?" Namine said, propping the hat onto her head. She couldn't believe she was actually playing along with something so stupid.

"First, we talk to Xion and Riku. Knowing them, they did a lot of the talking during the incident." Kairi said, texting away on her phone.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Xion and Riku, duh. I'm getting them to come over to the Destiny Grill and we can start to really figure out what happened."

"Nice plan. Let's go now."

"If they look like they played a significant role, we bring in Roxas straight away. If not, we talk to Hayner and Olette. Plan A and B."

"Got it."

* * *

The girls walked it to the coffee house and saw Xion sitting next to Riku at a table. "Perfect, they're already here." Kairi said, sneaking past people like a spy though it actually drew more attention.

"I can't believe we're still wearing the hats." Namine said. The two sat down opposite their friends and there was an awkward silence.

"What did you call us out for, Sherlock?" Xion said, giggling.

"Oh, nothing much... I was just wondering how the committee work is going." Kari said, acting 'nonchalant'.

"Uh, It's going great." Riku said awkwardly. Namine could tell he knew something fishy was going on. We _always_ knew.

"So...Are you guys in pairs like I asked?" Kari asked. Leaning closer and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Yeah we are." Xion said, sipping some espresso from her cup. The whole atmosphere was so awkward. It made Namine cringe and want to get out of her seat, pretend that she doesn't know these awkward people and go straight home. But right now, she was sitting in her seat, swaying mindlessly.

"Who chose the pairings?" Kairi asked again, wiggling her eyebrows again. Riku looked annoyed.

"Can we talk about something interesting?" Namine interuptted. Kairi was utterly shocked. Her own deputy had corrupted the mission!

"Not until I douse my curiosity," Kairi whispered to her, then continued, "Where were we?"

"Namine said something about Xion and Roxas, then she chose me considering Olette and Hayner probably wanted to work together. Make sense?" Riku said, hoping that Kairi would stop being more unusal than always. Firstly, Namine and Kairi were wearing detective hats, secondly, Kairi had a bubble pipe in her mouth and lastly, Riku and Xion were practically being interrogated.

Xion started laughing for no reason, then said, "Is this an epic fail at Sherlock Holmes cosplay?!"

* * *

"Okay, now that those two are done, we can call in Roxas." Kairi said, taking out her phone once again.

"Why? I thought we were going to call in Olette and Hayner?" Namine asked, snatching the phone away. Kairi counter-snatched it.

"What those two said wasn't completely useless. I think I've solved this whole mystery. And now, I will be having a little chat with our friend Roxas."

"What do you mean 'I'? What about me?"

"I forgot to tell you," Kairi said, continuing to type into her phone, "you've been kicked off the party until I've said otherwise."

"You just said otherwise."

"No, no! I meant, until I say you can be on the team."

"You just said I can-"

"Forget it!"

In the end, Namine had no choice but to wait at a separate table, though she did manage to be with Xion and Riku since they were still there. Roxas came shortly after and was dragged away by Kairi before he had a chance to speak.

"What do want now, and why did you have to drag me?"

"Don't be a big baby, I'm only kidnapping you. Come here." Kairi muttered, leading them to the very back of the establishment and into the staff room.

"We're not allowed in there."

"Don't worry, Sora's got it all covered. He's got more shifts so he's working now."

"Right." Kairi shut the door and sighed, sitting down on one of the sofa's opposite to Roxas.

"So," she began, "What's up with you and Namine?" Roxas was very confused by the question. After all, it could mean so many things. In what way did she imply it? When they last talked? Friendship wise? Could something be wrong? When a certain topic flashed through Roxas brain his cheeks became a girly pink.

"W-What do you mean?" He asked sheepishly.

"I mean, what happened at that committee meeting today! Namine says, you have been acting all off. Like a carton of milk out of date."

"I don't know, I'm just tired."

"That's so cheap, using the same excuse you gave to Namine. I know what it is, and why? Because I know you Roxas. More importantly, I know why you are upset. After I found out about the pairings, the answer became clear."

"Go on. Give it a shot. What do you think happened?"

"I think, that when Namine chose Riku to be her partner, you got peeved off. Correct?"

"You know what, fine. Yes, it's true."

"Hold up, your seriously going to admit to it." Kairi said. The two of them looked confused.

"Yeah, whatever."

"I don't have to annoy it out of you? No begging, no pleading, no threatening?"

"Is that not clear?"

"Oh. Well," Kairi said, calming down and sitting beside him. "When did you... you know, take an interest in her?"

"Can we not have this talk, please? I feel like I'm talking to my mum about this."

"Fine then. A different approach." Kairi said, talking a deep breath as though she was about to perform. "Who knew you'd get jealous so easily? I always knew you'd probably end up having a thing for her, but, wow!"

"It's nothing like that. It's just... I don't know. I'm clueless. A clueless, confused idiot."

"Aw, like I didn't already know that. Come on. It can be between you and me, and I'll even help you if you want. After all, I owe it to you for helping me with Sora. If it wasn't for you, I probably would have never been able to tell him I like him. So tell me your little story."

"Well, there's nothing to tell. I don't even know if I like her. It's seriously just an up and down ride. Sometimes I think I like her, the next I want nothing to do with her! Besides, I've known her for barely two weeks. It's just illogical. And what happened today...I don't know. Maybe I felt kinds crappy when Namine said she'd rather have Riku as a partner."

"Interesting...Well, once you head gets sorted out, we'll talk again. You've got to calm down dude."

Roxas laughed and muttered, "Says you, the psycho diva."

* * *

It didn't take long for a few days to pass, and everything seemed back to normal. Well, as normal as it was for Namine. The day of the event had come and the preparations were done. By just nine-thirty, a majority of the guests had already come. There were speeches and formal stuff that went on, and after all that finished, the young people actually came. Meanwhile, Roxas, Kairi and Namine were working the drinks stand and once night had come, the fun began.

"So, how's it going with pouring drinks for the next two hours?" Riku asked smugly, getting him a death glare from Kairi. The red head had bigger plans in taking a role that was actually important in the whole set up. Just like Roxas and Namine, she was stuck doing a boring job.

"How come your not doing anything?" Roxas asked.

"What else is there to do? I'm just a left over since you guys and a few others are filling in on the odd jobs." Riku said, taking a cup and shaking it, making the drink wave about.

"Did you see Mr Sephiroth's speech thing?" Namine asked giggling.

"Yeah, he tripped on his way up to the stage! He was lying on the stairs like a Disney princess." Roxas laughed.

Kairi held back a smile then said, "I heard he got taken to hospital because he hurt his butt area _real_ bad. Ew, imagine if it was all swollen and stuff. Nasty. Especially since some people say he bruised his-"

"Okay can we not talk about Mr Sephiroth's danger zone?" Namine interrupted. Riku and Roxas began humming 'High Way To The Danger Zone'. "Oh please not that stupid eighties song!" Just as Namine finished her words, Kairi's phone rang. It seemed to do that a lot. She held it to her ear, saying the occasional, 'yes' and 'okay'.

She suddenly slid under the table, grabbed Riku and ran off yelling, "Up, up and away!" It wasn't long until you can see Kairi in the distance with her fist in the air and Riku flopping about looking all confused. There was silence among the two blonds still at the drinks stand.

"So," Namine began, "Kairi never did tell me what she scooped up from you. At the grill?"

"About that, it's kind of a secret."

"How bad could it possibly be?"

"Nothing like that. If there's anything we share in common, it's that we owe each other a lot of favours."

"She's just keeping her end of the bargain, right?"

"I guess. So what about you? Kairi told me you were worried about me." He teased.

"Not worried...Actually, yes, it was a little weird how you weren't being weird. Is it wrong to want to know what happened?"

"It's nosy, so yes, it is wrong."

"Says the king of annoying."

"At least I'm the king of something. So how was working with Riku?"

"What do you mean? It was normal, I guess. We talked, got the work done. What else? Wait, did you have a fight with Riku or something? Or was it something to do with Xion."

"No and maybe."

"Maybe? What's that supposed to mean? Your being way to vague. It's actually making this interrogation less fun than it should be."

"Let me get one thing straight; there is nothing going on between Xion or anyone. You really are nosy, and you jump to conclusions, and your oblivious, and clueless and also-."

"I get the idea. I'd say some of the bad things about you, but the list is endless."

Roxas laughed. "Mean."

* * *

"Gather around, guys! The meteor shower is about to start!" Kairi yelled through a megaphone while standing on the stage. Namine was looking forward to it. From everyone she's heard from, celestial events at Destiny Islands were more than amazing. She grabbed Roxas who was sitting on a chair and falling asleep.

"We're going to miss the whole event if you don't get off your lazy butt Roxas! Then there'll be no point in coming!" Namine whined. Roxas muttered incoherently under his breath then jolted awake when Namine heaved him up and dragged him to the rest of their friends.

Everyone was there, hundreds of people, all staring at the sky like dazed children. Namine and all of her close friends sat down by a large oak tree, further away from the crowd and joined them.

There was silence. Namine stared up at the dark sky and noticed how the stars were in a light blue and gold. The still sky became drawn with a hundred flying lights spreading over the citizens of Destiny Island, who cheered in celebration. Something made Namine feel so warm, despite being wind-swept by cold air. Was it the thought of everyone being here? Or the beautiful meteors above?

She widened her eyes in realisation when she felt a hand interlocked with hers. Roxas's hand.

* * *

**I skipped Namine's journal entry since I was clueless as to what she could write! I've noticed a reoccurring theme in the chapters. Starts of stupidly then leads into the story. Then an important bit then the step-by-step Romance in the end. I chose comets since the idea of Roxas and Namine under the stars seemed really nice to me.**

**Sorry for rambling on. Follow, Review and Favourite!**


	7. Stupid Cupids

**Sorry for being a so very late. More progression in with romance this time, but not rushed I hope. At this rate the story will be around 17-23 chapters. No promises. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Stupid Cupids

Namine got out of bed in the morning, still half awake. Sleep hadn't come to her last night.

Namine's head was filled with thoughts, paranoid and misinterpreting thoughts, about Roxas. As much as she hated it, she couldn't stop thinking about him. "Ugh, stupid Roxas. Annoying me without even being here!" She whined, falling onto her bed after she just got ready for school. "Why did you have to do that...?"

Of course she was muttering about Roxas's little hand holding the night before. Namine never thought she'd be one of those girls who gets all dramatic when it came to things like this. She was, or at least wanted to be, calm and totally cool with whatever happened with anyone. Then again, Namine never had a boyfriend. No 'first kiss'...or even... a mere intimate _hug_ from a boy. Before she'd been awake the previous night of extreme thinking and soul searching, it never occurred to her how anti social she was before living in Destiny Islands.

She was sixteen years old and was perfectly fine with things as they were. A non-existent love life? So what? Of course, I doesn't matter that she's surrounded by friends, most of which are meant for each other or are already dating. Or if she has met plenty of boys who had caught her eye, but she's never made a move.

But Roxas? This was exactly why she was up all night. Thoughts of something truly frightful. Roxas and Namine; as a _couple_.

_'Wait, don't Xion and Roxas like each other?'_ she thought to herself, _'Yeah, maybe he thought I was Xion at the time.'_ But the more and more she repeated this in her head, the more she realised she was just fooling herself. Something did happen that night. But why?

"Damn it, I must be going insane or something. Thinking into something so pointless! All he did was hold my hand. Why did I have to be born a girl? It would have all been okay if I was a guy!" Namine yelled out. Her cats snarled viciously as if to say, 'Namine, get off your lazy butt and get to school you clown!'.

* * *

"Roxas, stop pretending." Kairi called, catching up to him as he speed walked down the school hallway, earlier on in the morning than usual. "I told you I saw what happened!" Once she'd finally caught up, she started whispering so no one could hear them. "I know you made your first move last night. It's about time too. Little things early on, right? I like the idea."

"Let's say what you saw _did_ happen. So what? What am I meant to say about? 'Oh yes, there was a perfect moment and I just went for it. Whoop di do da!'"

"I get it, and don't make that stupid voice again! Have you seen Namine since then?"

"No. She should be at school already. I can't believe you ditched her this morning. You two always walk to school together."

"Maybe you can walk her, and I can walk Sora from now on. That'll be nice, right?"

"I would, but not now. Namine's pretty clueless, so I took last night a chance to hint everything to her. I'm not exactly the most brilliant guy when it comes to this stuff...you know." Roxas said, his cheeks glowing pinkish.

"Aw, Roxas is all shy. How cute! Da wittle boy has a crush." Kairi cooed, poking him like he was a baby. Roxas swatted her hands away.

"Whatever. I'm just trying to say that relationships are like...a house of cards. You have to build it up slowly and know when the foundation is ready, then you can start to build on top of-"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your little analogies to yourself. I get it. Basically, you've got to suck it up one day or... eventually."

* * *

Namine trudged into her English classroom groggily. Luckily, Mr Strife was in a good mood, so he didn't mind that she was a little late. The lesson went on as usual and Namine was grouped with Hayner and Xion to examine some boring text. Why couldn't English have more interesting stuff to read?

Towards the end of the class, conversation began. "Hey, Namine. Are you alright? You seem a little down." Xion said worriedly. Xion and Kairi were similar in so many ways. Both easy to make friends with, both give good advice, always cheerful, they even look the same and they lift a bad mood ninety percent of the time.

"She's right. You look like you spent the night in a dumpster." Hayner added. Namine gave a soft laugh. She _was_ in a dumpster, mentally.

"Honestly, I'm not feeling so well. Some stupid stuff is messing with brain." Namine said, giving a genuine smile to show she wasn't feeling as bad as she seemed. It's not like she was depressed, just confused. She hated depression so did her best to avoid it at all cost.

Once the lesson had ended, Namine decided she had one person she had to consult. Riku. She walked quickly down the hall to catch up to him. For some reason he walked so insanely fast when going from one place to another. Namine was practically running after him.

One she crashed into him, he turned around to finally realise she was there. "Oh, hey Namine." He said plainly. Namine was breathing like an old man and couldn't believe Riku wasn't tired.

"Why do you walk so fast?! Anyway, I had something I wanted to ask you about. You being a genius at, well, everything."

"Homework help again?"

"No. Something a little embarrassing, actually." She said shyly.

"Er, I know I'm a close friend and all, but some girl problems aren't my call."

"Oh... Wait! Oh gosh, that's _so_ not what I meant. That was awkward. I meant, about Roxas. What were _you_ thinking?"

"For some reason, every girl we know has ranted on to me about their problems. I was hoping it wasn't your turn. It's like I'm some kind of guidance counsellor or something."

"It's a sign your well trusted and a good friend, right?"

"A friend. Right. So what did you want to say about Roxas?"

"Uh...Let's go somewhere less open. I've got a lot to say." Namine said, dragging Riku away to some place she had in her head. Riku had some clues from past places he'd been dragged off to.

After finally arriving at the back off the school building, Namine and Riku sat at a bench in the shade, and the counselling session began.

* * *

"Never!" Roxas declared, his voice heard from down the hall.

"Roxas, I'm going to poke your eyes out if you don't give it back!" Namine yelled, running after him. Everybody (meaning Kairi, Sora, Roxas, Namine, Xion and Riku) was gathered for a movie night at Kairi's house. Namine clocked her head left and right, unable to find the blond boy who'd taken a certain phone, that had a certain picture on it. Namine crept around, busting through doors hoping Roxas would come out. The boy was nowhere to be seen.

"You two, stop running around! We're going to start the movie soon!" Kairi ordered from the living room. Kairi often had invited people to come over since she had plenty of sofas and a very big house. Not to mention she loves playing the hostess.

Namine heard a rustling from the large closet door. She looked around the room some more, then flung open the closet door. Immediately, she grabbed Roxas but tripped on her feet. Roxas caught her, but the sudden shift sent the two tumbling onto the bed in the guest room. "None of this would happen if you'd stop being such a child." Namine moaned, resting her head on the incredibly soft duvet. She tilted her head and saw Roxas beside her, seeming so much calmer. His body would fill with air and deflate irregularly, his face was a pinkish red.

Roxas turned his head cautiously to face Namine, who was staring right back at him. There was a silence, uneasy at first but Namine became relaxed quickly. After a few long seconds of thinking, she came to the conclusion that Roxas was only tired from thirty seconds of running.

Namine decided to speak. "Rox-"

"I'm so going to show everybody!" He said excitedly, flashing out of the room. Just when she thought he was being normal. Namine ran after him, but she too late. Everyone was already having fun and laughing their heads off, reminiscing about a past they weren't a part of.

"Yeah, yeah, have your fun." Namine said grumpily, slumping down onto a sofa and crossing her arms. The picture, was in fact, on Namine's phone. It was of her as a seven year old at a park.

"Who would have known you were so chubby?" Xion giggled alongside Riku, who wasn't even holding back his loud roar of laughter. Namine wasn't exactly as slim as she was now, as she was back then. Her days of eating burgers and chocolates were long behind her. It had been a glorious, slimming, seven years since then.

"She was so cute though. Little Namine still loved art back then you know." Kairi said smiling and trying to make Namine feel better.

"Can we start watching a movie already?" Namine yelled out. Her friends wiped away tears from laughter and puffed out their last laughs. It was already eight-thirty and it was the sky was a dark blue. Roxas gave back the phone and sat beside Namine. Sora and Kairi sat together, while Xion and Riku sat in separate, one-seated sofas. The lights turned off and mindless comedy glared from the TV in the dark room.

Kairi, being Kairi, had prepared snacks and had them laid on the coffee table neatly. Most of the food was eaten by Sora.

Namine felt stiff throughout the whole of the movie so far. Sitting next to Roxas would usually make her gag, but know she was just wondering what was going through that head of his. She realised she didn't really know a single thing about him, but he was easily learning everything about her. Namine knew plenty, or enough, about Riku and Sora, and lots about Kairi. She and Xion got along great and they thought the same way about a lot of things.

But Roxas was nothing like her. She suddenly thought she was sitting next to a stranger, yet she felt like she knew Roxas her whole life. It was a confusing feeling for Namine. She didn't like it so tried to take her mind off it.

* * *

*Several Hours Earlier*

"So, you like Roxas huh." Riku said, lying back on the bench feeling slightly hollow. Namine had just finished explaining everything and venting out all her thoughts to the wise, silver haired young man.

"N-No! It's just that, I want your take on what you think happened. Do...Do you think it meant anything. You know, what he did?" Namine stuttered. Explaining such awkward things wasn't really Namine's forte, then again, that was Riku's job.

"Well, knowing Roxas," He said slowly, "it definitely means something."

"How can you tell?"

"Well when Roxas told me he starting liking his first girlfriend-"

"First? He's had girlfriends before? How many?" Namine said leaning closer, wide eyed with suspicion

"So your the jealous type."

"Of course not! I'm just curious. I know practically nothing about him."

"Fine. But it's not really my choice to tell people about Roxas's love life."

"Cut the morality, okay? This is useful information! And if I'm his friend, I should know, right?"

"Okay then. When Roxas was fourteen, he liked Olette and the two went out for like a year and a half. Olette broke up with because she started liking Hayner. Luckily, they were pretty cool about it so there weren't any bumps in the friendship between them."

"Seriously? Him and Olette? That is so weird..."

"Well, Roxas is pretty close with Hayner, Pence and Olette. It makes good sense to me."

"So how were the two of them? Did you think he likes someone else now?" An obnoxious bell rang and Namine's face scrunched up knowing that time had caught up to her.

"I guess that'll be for you to figure out and for Roxas to say." Riku said.

* * *

*A Few Hour After That*

Kairi was sipped her herbal tea after Riku finished his sentence. The two were at the Destiny grill and having a little discussion. The fact the Riku had to spill the beans on what Namine told him made him feel slightly guilty. He was the kind of person who lived by strong morals.

"So Namine really _is_ thinking about him." Kairi said with a smirk pulling her lips. "Or re-thinking her view on him at least. Roxas is a genius. He knew something like this would happen from just a slight gesture. He's trying to get her to dig up any feelings she might have for him."

"Maybe we should keep out of it. This is Roxas's deal. Meddling with people personal lives, especially with thing like this, can't be good. What if things go bad? Then we'll be to blame. Well, you will."

"_We _are not going to say a word in this. It's just that we knew when to let them build up a mood. For example, if the two want to go somewhere and we're invited, we say no. Make sense?"

"I still don't like it. Things happen for a reason. If it works out for them, great. If not, then maybe it was never meant to be."

"You sound like Buddha or something."

"You sound like Scooby Doo." There was silence until Kairi broke into a cheesy smile.

"Hardy har har. Meddling, Scooby Doo. What a bad pun."

"At least you get the point."

After a few moments of the two eating, Kairi was stuck by a miraculous idea. Riku imagined a light bulb above her head when she stood up. "We should invite everyone over for a movie night!" She declared. People in the restaurant turned to stare at her in silence. She sat down again in embarrassment and whispered, "Okay, so let's invite a few of us over, and get Namine and Roxas to come too. I've got a plan from there. Listen up."

* * *

*At The Current Time*

The happy ending music sang from the TV screen as the movie credits rolled in. Kairi switched on the lights, and shock met her eyes as she realised that the living room was littered with popcorn and chocolate crumbs. "Sora!" Kairi yelled. The spiky haired boy jumped in his seat and turned around, food still stuffed in his mouth. "You animal! How could you leave such a mess?!"

The boy gulped down the last of his food. "It wasn't me! It was you, Xion and Namine! You girls are the pigs here!" He said defensively. Kairi went quiet , unable to deny the slight truth in what he said.

"W-Whatever! It was mostly Sora. Anyway, Xion, Sora. You two are coming with Riku and I."

"Why? What crazy scheme are you up to? And what about Roxas and Namine?" Xion questioned. Suddenly Kairi felt the holes in her perfectly woven plan.

"I need to speak to you guys about something I'm planning. A sporting event, at school. Those two were really useless at the meteor shower event so they don't have to come. Right Riku?" Kairi said innocently.

"Uh, yeah. What Kairi said." Riku mumbled.

The four scrambled out of the house as Kairi herded them together and threw them out along with herself, closely the door with a cheeky smile. "Have fun, while we're gone."

The door slammed shut. The two felt a deafening silence. Roxas shifted in his seat. "You do realise Kairi's up to something, and she almost definitely dragged Riku into it." Roxas said.

"You sound like Riku, know-it-all. Well, we've got some time to do stuff. Let's go out and do something. Sitting here is boring."

"Sure, were do you want to go."

"Hmm... Let's go to your house. I'll thrash you at video games. I promise." Namine smirked. She felt like it was her turn to annoy Roxas.

"Oh really? You're on." There was a thud and everything went black.

"What? The power's gone out." Namine said.

"I can see that. Let's go tell Kairi her house died." Roxas said. He took hold of Namine's hand and led her to the door. Roxas rattled the door knob countless times. It wouldn't budge.

"Roxas, open the door already." Namine said.

"I would if I could." He said under breath.

"Quit playing. Let me try." Again, the same result. "Great. There goes kicking your butt at your own game." After further bickering, stepping on each other's feet and looking for a light switch and a torch, some time had passed with no productivity.

* * *

"Do you think it worked?" Riku whispered, rumbling through a bush to meet up with Kairi. He had just executed his first deed for Kairi's master plan.

"Yeah, those two are crawling around in there somewhere. Good job on turning off the lights. You had perfect timing. I wonder if those two will ever guess it was us." Kairi said excitedly. She had a pair of night vision and looked through a peak in the window. Riku was given a pair by Kairi. "Take these. Roxas and Namine are such morons."

Riku took the binoculars and joined Kairi, as much as he didn't like peeping. "Says the girl who got this whole idea from a dumb _nature program_."

"Hey! It worked with the gorillas, it'll work on them!" Kairi argued. There was more rumbling through their bush and Sora had joined them as he was passed a third pair of binoculars.

"I did as asked, Captain Kairi." He said, "Xion has been led away." Sora's duty was to leave Xion out of the whole plan. Kairi had the feeling she would say this whole mischievous idea was wrong, and blow up the whole operation. Riku, on the other hand, could easily be convinced by Kairi to do anything. She had a way with people.

"Captain Kairi? Whose idea was that?" Riku laughed, "I think it should be King Kong - Lord of the Gorilla Documentaries." Kairi gave him a sour look but Riku took no notice.

"They aren't doing anything much right now. I think Namine broke Roxas's foot on purpose. Are they looking through your cupboards?" Sora whispered, loudly.

"It's okay, Kairi and I took out the torch lights and candles beforehand. They're in the dark for the next hour or so, I guess."

Kairi was evilly stroking a cat in her mind and said, "Don't worry. Things will pick up in a bit. Just wait and see..."

* * *

Namine and Roxas sat on a sofa, bored from searching for lights that weren't there. "Let's just crawl out of a window or something." Roxas suggested.

"What are you? Five? The windows don't open enough for a person to enter or exit. Otherwise a criminal could bust in. You know what, why do bad things happen when your around? You're like bad luck." Namine moaned, making Roxas laugh at her misery.

"Really? Good things happen to me when I'm near you."

"Paint spillage was lucky? Detention was lucky? This blackout is lucky?"

"Yes, in its own way. Speaking of blackouts, this house is the only one with the light gone out. And didn't the light go out just after everyone left?"

"Oh yeah. I'm going to check the door again." Namine said. Roxas stood up to follow and stumbled off the sofa and onto Namine. The two were lying on the floor groaning in pain.

"Sorry, I couldn't see."

"Roxas, you perv. What the heck was that for?"

"What? What did I do?"

"You you practically slapped my- Ugh, just never mind. Just don't walk in the dark with me again, ever."

"But I didn't..." Roxas mumbled. Namine gave up on the light switch as the effort was useless. They just went back to the sofas, back at square one.

There was a silence again. "Hey Roxas. Can I ask you something?"

"You already have."

"It's about Olette. She was your girlfriend before. Right?"

"And who told you that?"

"I promised not to say." Namine lied, trying to keep Riku out of trouble.

"It's true. About Olette and I."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did it all...end?"

"She started liking someone else. It's not for me to decide to keep someone from who they really want. It's not fair."

"What's not fair is you got dumped for someone else." Namine said. Her voice was louder and she practically lashed out without realising. Roxas was silent from confusion. "Oh come on! You deserve better. Even if you're a total butt half the time, you're not a bad person. Your too nice."

"And why," Roxas said slowly, "Would you say that?"

"Because...I don't know. To be honest, I don't even know what to think of you. It gives me a headache. The worst part is, you haven't told me a thing about you, and I tell you everything about me!"

"That's a result of you rambling on. And the reason I don't tell you everything," Roxas said, "is because not everything is for everyone to know."

"Oh. Well, we're friends right? Kind of. I think. Okay maybe not really. But we're close!" Namine said firmly. She suddenly started laughing.

"What is it now?"

"Sorry..." She breathed. "Your name popped up in my head but it was pronounced Rox-ass."

"You know what just popped up in my head? A word that shouldn't be said. Anyway, what got you so curious about my relationships?"

"Uh, you know. Just making conversation."

"Bad excuse. As punishment, tell me about your past relationships."

"Zero. Nothing. Non-existent."

"Really? Have you ever been asked out?"

"So far, its four times- Wait, you got it out of me again, and I _still_ don't know a thing about you."

"_Four_ times!?"

"Yeah. Not too much right? Three of them were guys in my art class and one was a friend."

"Oh."

"What's with the reaction?"

"Sorry, I was just expecting something different."

"Get to the point, different how?"

"Never mind."

"No, tell me. Come on."

"Seriously, it wasn't important."

"But I want to know!"

"Forget about it, okay?" Roxas said, getting up from his seat.

"And where are you going?" Namine said. She stood up and started looking for where he went, blindly. Roxas knew that she could only find her by sound and crept around as quietly and carefully as possible. After a few minutes, they wandered into the wide hallway. Roxas hoped that since it was carpeted, there would be less creaks. All it would take was one sound and Namine would maul at him like an animal.

Roxas bumped into a telephone stand, making a rumbling noise as it wobbled. Namine took hold of his arm. "There you are! Listen to me Roxas. I've got something important to say too. I want you to stop all...this. Not telling me a single thing and being all vague doesn't help with what you call cluelessness. Pleeeeaaase be honest with me, okay? Are you there? This is awkward."

Roxas was silent and thinking about what Namine had said. He always told himself to get the timing perfect, to not rush anything. At that point, he threw away every once of uncertainty, and was ready to break all the rules he'd made. "Okay. I promise, alright?"

"I still don't believe you. Your really sketchy with things like this."

"Fine, how about I prove it to you? We'll spend all day tomorrow together. Just you and me, and you can ask me whatever you want. Will that make you feel better, Nami-neigh?" He said, purring like a horse.

"Finally got me back. But that sounds like a good plan to me. But no tricks! I feel like getting out of here already."

"Oh damn."

"What?"

"We have our phones. We could have called Sora and the others all this time."

"Seriously? How annoying. Let's go back to the living room. Not being able to see is annoying."

The two walked back to the large window when some light seeped through and opened the window. There was a strange rustling in the bush but the two took no notice. Roxas phone started ringing as he dialled Sora. The little tune went off, but from two different places. One from Roxas's phone...and once from the bush. "What the- was the bush ringing?" Namine said, startled. There were murmurs in the bush and a blur of voices. One was a familiar girl and two boys.

"Kairi, Sora, Riku." Roxas said, as the rose up looking guilty. "What the hell were you guys doing hanging around in a bush?"

"Uh, surprise!" Sora said happily. "We were planning on scaring you guys by turning the house into a haunted mansion!"

"A what? Why?" Namine said. "Riku, you'll tell me what's going on, right?" Namine demanded.

"This was all Kairi. I had no part in this." He said, raising his hands to surrender.

"How about you three go on home. I'll have a little talk with Kairi." Roxas said, shooing the lot of them away.

"Well, I'm going to the principal's office. Bye guys!" Kairi cheered.

* * *

**This chapter was a little under done, sorry about that. I had a writers block. Well a writers I-changed-my-mind. I hope the chapter was decent, because I'm going to have a little fun with the next one. It's actually the part I've been wanting to write the most. Next chapter won't take as long, just saying. I should have given the chapter the alternative ending I had in mind...Oh well, you'll never know now. And that'll be for another time.**


	8. A Romantic Turkey

**This chapter is all Roxas and Namine doing stuff that's fun. Enjoy! Warning/Note: There is some of useless education in this chapter that you will never need in your life. When I say women's' shoe size 3 in the chapter, I mean it in the British size. I think that's size 4.5-5 in American. Jus' Saying'.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, okay. They're not mine. Same with Final Fantasy characters along with Twilight. And a courtroom, or the Rubik's Cube...you'll see what I mean.**

* * *

Chapter 8: A Romantic Turkey

Roxas had known that it was only a night until he and Namine would spend the day together. The whole day. He stayed up for a few hours just rethinking everything and thinking again. He was never one to be paranoid, but he hated taking risks for things that can't be fixed. He's usually one to try.

Perhaps the whole day would be like walking into a lion's cage. That lion is one Riku seems to be eaten by a lot recently. This lion is commonly named:

The friend zone.

There was a balance between these things. When people say 'being more than just friends', Roxas sees this as finding the secret little door called 'love' next to a gigantic gate to 'friendship', which you are likely to walk through.

Roxas was a rather simple minded person.

After he had gotten ready for school and all, he opened his house door to find a flustered Namine waiting for him. "Oh, I was just about to ring the door bell." From there on, there was a slight awkwardness for the first few moments of walking.

"Hey Roxas. I heard Riku wasn't in today. Are you okay? He seem kind of...reserved." Namine said, waving her hand in his face to check if he was listening. As a part of their deal, Namine was going to walk with Roxas to school. To be honest, she was pretty excited to find out more about Roxas, since she knows lots about her other friends already, of course.

"Sorry, I was blanking out. I was just thinking about...Today." He said, giving a low laugh.

"So was I. I've got so many questions I want to ask! You better not dodge them with some sly comment, alright?"

"Sure thing, but in way, I kind of want to hear more about you too. Now that I think about it, you've only been around a few weeks. But I think we're pretty close still."

"I agree actually. Kind of. I'm not sure you classify as a friend, you are...you can have your own category," she said. Roxas seemed pretty satisfied. "And you know what I can't believe? It's that I've known Sora almost as long as I've known Kairi, but I've never even heard of you until I moved here. Well, I stopped seeing Sora when I was like ten, so he barely recognised me at first."

"Typical Sora. He's my brother and all, but he's nothing like me. I'm smart, and funny, and mature, and good-looking."

"Don't flatter yourself, male-model-comedian-super-genius with fine tastes." Namine said in a posh voice, and the two broke into laughter.

Roxas was quite proud of himself once the two had gotten to school. They had one disagreement. It didn't even count as arguing to him. Namine and Roxas walked into the classroom, Ms Gainsborough still unpacking a few things from her bag. Xion leaned close to Namine as she sat down and whispered, "Since when are you and Roxas walking to school together?"

Namine replied saying, "Roxas wanted to today, since I don't know much about him. We're going to spend the day together, I think."

"Oh...Well good luck. I hope things go, uh, smoothly." Xion said. The words didn't seem to go through her mouth too well, but Namine gave a hopeful smile anyway.

* * *

"Get off your butt Roxas." Namine said, tugging at his dead arm. "Or we're going to be late for English. Mr Strife gives out detention like its Halloween candy. Hurry up!"

"I hate English, it's too boring. I'm one for maths - at least it makes sense." Roxas complained.

"Okay, let's be serious. What game are you playing here?" Namine asked in a strict manor. Although, Roxas had no idea what he was doing either. Being himself? It was the end of break and the kids in the halls were already shuffling their way out in crowds. Meanwhile, Roxas was draped onto the canteen bench like a dishcloth.

"Fine. But only because you would have broken my arm off otherwise." Namine grabbed his hand and heaved Roxas up, then dragged him all the way to their classroom.

"Oh gosh, look at the time! We're like ten minutes late."

The two ran up stairs, well, Namine ran up the stairs and busted through the classroom door, breathing heavily. Mr Strife propped his reading glasses onto his nose and clocked his head to the late comers. "You two, you're late. Since Namine's breathing like Darth Vader, this is probably Roxas's fault, correct?"

Roxas had an offended look on his face a said, "What? I plead not guilty your honour."

Mr Strife sighed, knowing there was only one way to get through to Roxas, "You may call a witness."

"Namine, I choose yooooou!" Roxas announced pointing at Namine, as though he was calling a Pokémon. The whole class was laughing at Roxas's stupidity, Namine's confused face or even both.

Namine had seen enough. "Can we skip this whole process? I get a detention with Roxas. The end."

"Namine, you should never end your stories with 'The End'. I expect more from you." Mr Strife said sternly.

"Oh what?" Namine complained, opened mouthed with shock. Mr Strife gave an even sterner look. "Never mind."

And so the lesson carried on as normal. Namine didn't blame Mr Strife for giving them thirty minutes detention. She was actually grateful that it wasn't as bad as she had thought. It was only during their lunch break.

Roxas got so many detentions, that he and the teachers had a sort of love-hate relationship. Through this, he and the teachers became close. Basically, he'd annoy the teachers while being childish and so they had no choice but to put him aside from other students.. Roxas had a strange way of getting himself his own room in people's lives.

Once the lesson had ended, Mr Strife left to shoo away the students and Namine and Roxas were the only two who didn't leave for a happy little lunch break. "Dude, what was up with you little Pokémon act?!" Namine grimaced. Roxas sat on the other side of the classroom and turned to face her.

"Come on. It was funny. And hey, at least its quiet in here."

"Not when your around. I bet this is all part of a dumb plan you have to not answer my questions!" Mr Strife walked back into the room and sat at his desk, doing teacher things like marking papers and doing stuff on his phone.

"Cloud is sending flirty messages to Tifa!" Roxas pointed out, like a toddler.

"And who gave you permission to use my first name?" Mr Strife said, almost ignoring him; to busy on his phone.

"You're not denying it Cloud. What did she say? She still not into you yet? I can help you talk to her."

"Cloud. Cloud Strife, right?" Namine said, testing out the name. Teachers never revealed their first names to students, ever. You'd never hear them say to even the other teachers. "Roxas, how did you learn all the teachers' names?"

"Well," said Mr Strife, answering the question while dodging Roxas who was trying to look at his texts, "he's a snoopy little one. He'd 'accidentally' find our names on papers or overhear the teachers mistakenly saying them, like in the staff room."

"Oh. At least I've learnt one thing about you, Roxas." Namine said, "You're a hypocrite for calling me nosy."

* * *

The school day had ended with maths with Mr Squall, who Namine learned was named Leon. Luckily, they hadn't got any detention. Mr Squall was Namine's favourite teachers for being quite normal, but not boring.

"So, where do you want to go?" Namine asked. Since they were going to spend the day together, she thought it would be good to do it somewhere fun. But, not like a date. It wasn't one, right? She and Roxas are simply spending time together and going to a few places to learn about each other. Wait a minute...was it a date?

"How about I prove how well I know you? I think I've got some ideas of places you might like." Roxas said, with confidence.

"Oh really? I don't think you know _that_ much about me."

"Let's find out then." Roxas had no intention of telling her where they were going for the rest of the day, which only annoyed Namine more since she had no clue what was going on in the boy's head.

The two decided to take a bus, to whatever the destination was.

* * *

*Many Hours Earlier, At 2am*

Roxas couldn't bare it. He needed help. What on earth was he going to do for Namine? He had zero time to plan something interesting, something more specialised for the two of them. Forget movie-and-a-dinner. That wasn't special enough. When would you talk? What kind of movies does Namine like anyway?

He had only one choice, and he really didn't like the idea. It was like cheating. Then Roxas figured he was the one who got himself into the mess - may as well get someone else to help you out of it. He picked up his phone and dialled the number of the one person he had in mind.

"Roxas...? Why are you phoning me at two am? Is there something wrong?" Said the voice down the phone.

"Yes, there is Kairi. I need your help. It's about Namine. I pretty much asked her out on a date yesterday, and I have no idea what to do."

"Well, well, well, you little devil. You've come to just the right person..."

* * *

The bus was surprisingly empty. Then again, Roxas hadn't expected many people to take this route. "Please tell me where we're going I don't even know Destiny Islands too well, so I won't know it when I see it."

"All the better. But I could give you a clue. What's your favourite indoor sport?"

"My favourite indoor sport...I guess I don't know myself as well as I thought. You're so annoying! Wait, I have two!"

"I'm taking you to the one I don't suck at."

"So you suck at table tennis?"

"Yep."

"You cheater. By the way, how did you know what indoor sports I liked. We never even talked about it."

"Lucky guess. Wait, you do like bowling right."

"Totally. Back when I last saw Kairi in Twilight Town I thrashed her and she- Don't dodge the question, you have to answer!"

"You never said to answer it truthfully."

"I like people better when their truthful."

"Fine. I spent a lot of time with Kairi, and she's the same as you. Rambles on about things. To be honest, I learnt like a third of everything I know about you from her."

"That makes sense."

* * *

The bus ride ended soon enough and the two arrived at a large and new looking building with different colour panels all over it. "Ooh the building looks so cool. Shiny..." Namine said, in a daze, piqued by the glass Rubik's Cube like building. A work of art.

"Yes, yes - it's all amazing, Namine the artist strikes again."

"Ah, I see what you did there. Bowling. Strikes."

"Namine, I didn't even notice that. I'm glad my weirdness is rubbing off on you." Roxas said with a smirk. Namine gave a disgusted look but laughed anyway. Once they had entered the Rubik's Cube, Namine and Roxas walked to the counter. Roxas insisted he'd pay for the bowling.

Then came the bowling shoes. "Nooo! I just remembered." Namine moaned, "I hate wearing the public shoes, so I used to bring my own."

"Would you rather sit here and do nothing?"

"No."

"Then tell me your shoe size."

"Size three." Namine mumbled, nonchalantly. Roxas started laughing while the woman at the counter handed him a rather small pair of bowling shoes. "And what are you snickering about?"

"Snicker, snicker, snicker." Roxas said, wording it out. "My kid cousin is size three."

"Go ahead and laugh all you want. Being petite is better than being massive. It's not like you're much taller than me. In fact, you _are_ the shortest of our guy friends... Aww, isn't little Roxas just so cute!" Namine cooed, patting him on the head as he frowned, looking a little embarrassed. She was enjoying how Roxas's comment had backfired. "I wonder how small you were as a kid. You must have been adorable like Sora and Riku were."

"You mean adorable like you were?"

"Oh shut up and pick a bowling ball. I'm having the white one."

"I'll take black. You can go first, I'll enter our names in the thingy."

Namine waited a short while, answering a text she was sent. It was Xion, asking a trillion questions about how things were going. When Roxas returned, Namine put her phone away. Namine looked up as the lights on the board that lit with Roxas's name and the word-

"Grandma?!" Namine said with the most outraged of looks. Roxas was laughing so hard.

"Don't worry; I used your real name." He said, "It's okay, right?"

"I'm so ganna kill you..." She muttered viciously.

"A feisty one. You can go first, grandma."

The game went on, and Namine played her all her frames with ease, and great skill. Seven strikes and three spares - all inconsistent. Roxas was distracting her the entire time though, but she was still asking questions.

"So, what have I got so far..." Namine said, ready to list what she had learnt, "You skateboard a lot, you have an identical cousin living abroad called Ven, your first kiss was Larxene as a dare and she beat the crap out of you afterwards, you actually lived in Twilight Town for a while and had a job once at a place called Organisation XIII like Axel who is one your best friends."

"That about covers it so far." Roxas said, standing up with his bowling bowl in hand. "My turn." Roxas positioned himself, bowling ball in hand, and let the ball roll right into one half of the set of pins.

"Ha ha, you only got six. Whoo!" Namine cheered. Roxas went again and completed his spare. Throughout, he got many strikes and spares, getting him the same score Namine had at the time. He had one more frame which had to be a strike. His last two frames being strikes would make another strike a Turkey, which Roxas needed in order for him to win.

Namine was mentally biting her fingernails in anticipation. There was no way Roxas could be better than her, right? But Roxas's bowling frames _were_ very good. If he won, Namine wouldn't live it down for the next four hours.

"Fail Roxas, fail!" Namine booed.

"In my head, that's screaming fan girls." He said optimistically, ignoring the fierce yelling. A deep breath, steady aim, and go. The ball travelled down the lane, hitting knocking down each and every pin. "TURKEY! TURKEY MEANS VICTORY!" He yelled triumphantly.

"Noooo!" Namine said in slow motion. She flopped back onto her bench. "Why did I lose...?"

Roxas sat beside the sighing girl. "Yes, Namine. Woe is me. Get up already. I thought it was pretty fun. I got a turkey."

"Why are you so good at everything. It's not fair. Even English, which you say you hate."

"I'm not good at art, like you are. Or being a girl, like you are. Or imaginative, caring, kind and...beautiful, like you are." He mumbled. He face was flared red and he turned away when Namine sat up slowly.

"Y-You really think so...? Thanks...Roxas."

There was a silence between the two. But it didn't feel like the usual awkward one she always had around him. Namine suddenly felt more relaxed, almost satisfied with her friendship with Roxas. She was glad that things been sorted between the two.

Then what Roxas just said set into her head. Did he call her...beautiful? Was that just a friendly compliment? But it wasn't pretty or cute or gorgeous - it seemed like all of that and more. Namine held her reddening cheeks with her cold hands to cool herself down. She could feel the blood pumping through her veins from her rapid heartbeat. _'I'm only tired, right?' _Namine thought about a when she last felt like this. Was is something more than she expected? Is she only trying to fool herself from something?

"Roxas," She said, "Do you, maybe, like m-"

"Hey guys!" interrupted a familiar, quirky voice. "It's me!" Roxas and Namine looked up to see Xion, looking as cheerful as ever. For once Namine was ungrateful for her uncanny timing. "I thought I'd come over since Namine said you two were hanging out."

"Oh, hey Xion. We finished here, actually." Roxas said. "We can hang out tomorrow if you want. It's sort of a getting-to-know-Namine sort of thing."

"I can get to know Namine too. Let's go your place and have a movie marathon. I got the Twilight Saga on DVD!"

* * *

With that, there was an awkward, and I mean truly awkward, bus ride home as the two blonds were dragged away by Xion, who also got Kairi to watch too. Kairi was excited, and decided Sora should watch too since he lived there. Xion sat in between Roxas and Namine.

Right in between...

* * *

**Lazy ending, I know. But I hope you liked it. Funnily enough, I've never gone bowling so I had to research it all. I actually used grammar and spell check this time, by the way.**

**Next chapter, the real drama begins...**

**Review/Favourite/Follow if you wanna see more!**


	9. Like A House Of Cards

**So far, we've seen Namine's peach-perfect life, but what about the pasts of the people around her? Note that bold, black writing in the story are messages from me. This idea of Roxas's past fits into the gaps of the story very well, I think (For example: How did Roxas meet Axel and the others? Why does Roxas not identical look to his brother, but his cousin? Why does he not share a past with Sora, Riku and Kairi? Why did he once live in Twilight Town? Why am I asking you all these questions?). You'll see... Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Like A House Of Cards

None of this was sitting right with Kairi. After the movie marathon, she went to Namine's house to ask about what happened. "But wasn't it supposed to be a day with just the two of you? Why did you invite Xion?" She asked.

"I didn't invite her," Namine said, almost defensively, "I told her Roxas and I were bowling and she just came!"

"Hmm...But you told her that it was meant to be just the two of you, getting to know each other."

"She said she could get to know me to."

"Namine, I totally know what's going on. But in a situation like this, I really can't interfere. Your both my friends. Xion and you. This is up to Roxas to sort out. Not me, not Riku and not Sora. Sorry Namine."

"What? You're just going to bail? Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, I'm so confused. I need you here for me, you're my best friend."

"Please don't do that to me Namine. I'm confused too."

"Yeah, if Xion likes Roxas, then why didn't she ask him out earlier?"

"Xion likes him, and she probably thinks you're going to snatch up Roxas before she does."

"W-What?! I don't like Roxas! She can have him, but not when I'm hanging out with him. Make sense?" Namine scoffed. Kairi just laughed and smiled in amusement.

"Ah, this is where it gets fun. It'd be troublesome if you liked Roxas too, which you claim you don't, but I guess there is _something_ I could do..."

* * *

The next morning came, a Saturday drawing the start of very long, three day weekend, since school on Monday was to be cancelled. Namine woke up earlier than expected at five-thirty in the morning.

There were raindrops running down the windows and Namine realised it was the first time she had seen a storm on Destiny Islands, and rain even. With nothing else to do for the next two hours, she brought out her drawing equipment and sketched a picture of her old mansion in the rain, then painted it with water colour so it looked like it was from a story book.

After an hour and a half, her phone rang. "Namine?" said Riku's voice, "Are you there?"

"Hey Riku. You're up early too, I guess."

"I'm actually outside."

"In this rain? It's a whole storm out there!"

"That's why I need your help. I was coming back from somewhere with Demyx and Larxene, and I need an umbrella now. Kairi and the others are still asleep and wouldn't pick up their phones."

"Oh my gosh, where are you?"

"You know that bus stop by our school? There. I'm close to your house, but far from mine."

"I'll come in a few minutes, okay? Bye."

Namine got ready as quick as possible and grabbed two umbrellas and her dad's waterproof coat and headed out. There wasn't a strong wind to blow away the umbrella, but Namine could almost feel the rain pounding down. She was being too nice to bother.

It wasn't long until Namine spotted Riku sitting under the shelter at a bus stop. "Riku! I got it." Namine yelled, walking over quickly. "You should check the weather reports before heading out. You're soaked."

"I didn't think it would rain. It usually doesn't. Especially on a weekend you know."

"Here take this. I took from my dad." Namine passed Riku the coat and umbrella and said, "You can stay at my place until the rain passes. Let's go. I can barely hear myself speak because of the rain."

The two walked back to Namine's house and Riku thanked her a few times. "Sorry about calling you out here." He said.

"It's alright. What are friends for? You've helped me out a lot so consider us even." Namine laughed. "What were you doing out here anyway?"

"It's sort of a personal thing for Axel and Larxene. They were visiting a graveyard. It's pretty far from here so we went early. I thought I'd go with them."

"Oh. Who were they visiting?"

"Axel was visiting his parents, and Larxene was visiting her aunt who she lived with."

"That's so sad. They both lost important people?"

"That's why I thought I'd go. They'd need the emotional support."

* * *

Namine started thinking about how the weather seems to reflect certain things. Nobody is ever happy when the rain is out. And even when the sun is out, there are always clouds. The world around Namine suddenly felt darker.

The two had finally arrived at Namine's house and Riku helped her dry off the umbrellas. "People are pretty lazy on Sunday's." Riku said.

"True, my parents are even a sleep still. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Yeah, have you?"

"I forgot. I'll have some now. You want anything?"

"It's alright. I'll make breakfast for you."

"Really? Thanks, I suck at making everything, except tea and coffee." Namine said, taking a seat by the dining table. Riku laughed at her uselessness.

"So what do you want? I can make anything."

"Hm...Then I want French toast."

"Sure thing." Riku started getting out equipment to make the breakfast and Namine felt too guilty, so she made Riku and herself some coffee. After a short while of silent cooking, the two sat down with their food and drinks finished.

Riku's phone rang and he put it on speaker. "Hey Axel. Are you and Larxene home yet?" He said.

"Are you? It's pouring out there. Zexion says it could last the whole day."

"Namine helped me out. I'm at her house now."

"Oooh, nice."

"Shut up." Riku said bluntly. Namine giggled.

"Is she there?" Axel asked. "Or was that Roxas's girly laugh?"

The two talked on the phone for a while and Namine laughed a few times at Axel's words. After the phone hung up, Sora phoned Riku. "Riku, I got your voice mail, I'm on my way bro!" Sora said heroically.

"You failure, you're too late. Some help you are. I'm at Namine's place now."

"Really? I'm coming then!"

"No-!" The phone hung up and Riku gave an annoyed stutter.

"He'll be here in two seconds since he's next door." Namine laughed. "Wait for it..." She put her finger in the air for a few second and the doorbell rang. "There it is!"

Riku went to open the door and greeted Sora. "How dumb can you get? You got all layered up when your house is a meter away."

"Better safe than sorry." Sora said with a smile and trudged in side, then wiped his shoes on the mat. After removing all the excess coats, he joined the two at the dining table.

"Okay, I already know where this is going to go, so give me your phones." Namine said, holding out her hand.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Because," Namine began, "You're going to end up phoning everyone and they're all going to pack themselves in my house. My parents will be up any minute and they won't be happy seeing a trillion people in the dining room. Why do people here have a habit of doing that?"

"I guess." Riku said, handing Namine his phone. Sora held onto his tightly and shook his head like a child.

"I have to conversations with Kairi and Xion, I can't put them on hold! They could text me any second!" Sora pleaded.

"All the more reason to take it away." Namine said. She reached out to take the phone, but Sora dodged. "My house, my rules, Sora!"

"No! It's not fair Namine, pleeeease!"

"Fine, but don't dare tell either of them your here. Who knew you were _such_ a diva." Namine said happily. Sora stuck his tongue out and put on a stupid look. Sora started texting again, laughing evilly. "What are you telling them?" Namine asked. Riku snuck a look on his phone.

"He's telling everyone to come here!" Riku said.

"Riku, why'd you snitch?" Sora moaned, "Get the toilet paper 'cause we have a party pooper in the house."

Namine couldn't help but laugh, and then straightened her expression. "You are so annoying. What does Kairi see in you?"

"Ahem, I am in fact the perfect boyfriend and there is plenty to see in me." Sora defended. "Besides, being annoying is subliminally charming."

"Yeah, trust Sora to put science into things."

* * *

It wasn't long until there were many impatient doorbells ringing off and Namine opened the entrance to see her red haired best friend looking grim and wet under her umbrella. "Ha and ha, that's what you get for listening to Sora." Namine laughed.

"The stupid wind was up and the rain got me at an angle. Thanks a lot, useless umbrella." Kairi said, throwing it on the floor. She let herself in and Namine helped her take off her coat and dry off a little with a hair dryer.

After a few thanks, the three guests sat at the dining table, with Namine standing up and staring at them. "The only person I actually invited here was Riku. Somehow you guys can't spend a moment apart from each other." She said.

"We're a trio of friends, hardy dar dar." Kairi said dopily, waving her arms like a hiker with her eyes crossed over.

"You look like a freakin' retard Kairi, don't do that." Riku said looking disturbed.

"My mum told me this old proverb once: from afar, a beautiful painting, but a up close - not so much."

"That was random." Kairi said. The door bell rang again.

"I'm not going to open the door this time." Namine said firmly.

"But then the guests will be out in the rain." Riku said, "Don't you care if they get hit by lighting and die?"

"That's so morbid. I feel guilty now. Fine." Namine huffed, opening the door to see a crowd of six people at her doorstep. "Xion, Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Zexion and Larxene. What are you guys all doing here?"

"We heard that you were inviting guests." Xion said.

"We thought we'd come over." Roxas said. "Xion invited me, and I invited Axel, who invited Larxene, who invited Demyx and Zexion."

"Uh but- You know what, I won't even try. I can't leave you guys out there after you've travelled all the way here."

"I walked for eight seconds." Roxas said smugly. Namine parroted him back to tease him, but Roxas only smiled more. His cheeky smiled made Namine feel a lot...better in a way.

Everyone sat down and took seats in Namine's living room, even bringing a few chairs over to make more seats. The TV didn't work since the satellite was unresponsive, due to harsh weather. For fifteen minutes it was just Axel and the others making jokes and twisting people's comments so they'd backfire, which made everyone laugh off the thick feeling of boredom. Namine hadn't said much, thinking only about how the they could be so happy after visiting a grave hours earlier.

If it was her, she wouldn't shake the feeling for weeks. It'd be a lingering thought in her head. Soon enough the group split off and started wandering around Namine's house. Roxas and Riku have their man talk in the kitchen, Sora and Kairi in Namine's guest room doing stuff that's better left unsaid and Zexion and Xion looking through Namine's art work and home library. Weirdly enough, Namine was left with Axel and Larxene in her bedroom. The three talked for a while until Larxene got annoyed with how girly Namine's bedroom was that she left.

"So it's just you and me. Larxene doesn't like girly stuff." Axel said.

"I'm not so girly per se, it's just I like things simple and clean **(See what I did there?)**."

"I get what you mean. So why'd you invite everyone here?"

"Technically, I only invited Riku since he was soaking out in the rain. I brought him here until the rain would pass. He told me his was out with you and Larxene to visit."

"It's okay to say graveyard. It's been around twenty years. My pain is healed, got it memorised?" Axel said, with a smile.

"Is it alright if you told me how it all happened? I know it's impolite, but I've actually never lost anyone, so I'm pretty curious."

"Sure. You're lucky though. Life without pain. Then again, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It happened when I was five years old, before you were even alive, and my parents and I went out to take me school and stuff. I had a bad day and came back to them all upset. My dad was pretty stressed out from work and stuff, so he wasn't a fan of my crying in the car. Half way home, boom, the car crashed into a petrol station and lit the car on fire. I never saw my parents again. Police and fireman said it was a miracle I was even alive. Fire never harmed me."

"I don't know what to say..." Namine said. She looked and felt sadder than Axel seemed. "What happened afterwards?"

"I had no relatives. None who wanted me anyway, so I was sent to an orphanage in Twilight Town, called Organisation XIII."

"But Roxas told me that's where you and the others worked."

"Yeah, when we were older. He skipped a few chapters of the story, didn't he? Anyway, I met Larxene there. She lived with her aunt who ran away and left her behind. Afterwards, I met Demyx and Zexion. Demyx was real lucky and got adopted by a millionaire after four years. There weren't many of us and it was a tough life and stuff and I was never adopted. Most of us were the same. That's where my story ends at least."

"But how did you meet Roxas then? Why was he at Organisation XIII?"

"He's adopted too."

"What? That's impossible."

"Not so much. He and Sora aren't blood related. This is how it went down. Roxas didn't have good parents, a good house or even any belongings that mattered. His dad was a lunatic and his mum was a depressed mess. His parents divorced when he was five, and his mum died of disease when Roxas was seven. His only other family was Ven and his parents, but they live way too far away. In the end, Roxas was sent to Organisation XIII too, were he was adopted by Sora's mum when Roxas was ten and he moved to Destiny Islands. The others and I were like his big brothers while he was there. I had to take of the brat a lot though. The saddest thing is, his life fell apart, like a house of cards. For me, at least I had good family. Roxas had nothing."

"So he was in Twilight Town for ten years, and I never even knew. And that's why Sora never mentioned his brother before. And why Roxas never hung out with Kairi and the others as a child like I did. I can't believe it. I had no idea this entire time."

"Yep, pretty much."

"I-I think I'm going to go to my room."

"You're in your room."

"Oh, sorry. I've got a headache. I'm not thinking straight, you know?"

"After hearing all that, I understand. Don't tell Roxas that I told you all of this. It's not really mine to say, but you deserve to know. Keep it our little secret."

"But how can I-"

"Shh."

"But you just-"

"Shh, it's a secret. Promise?"

Namine fell back onto her bed and sighed. "Fine, I promise."

* * *

The sleepy couple were still in bed, met by sunlight that illuminated dust particles. The woman sat up trying to adjust her eyes to the light when she heard her husband snore and she grimaced. "Hey, get up now. I wonder if Namine is awake yet." She said. Her husband gave a lazy groan. After many excuses and annoyed groans, the couple got up and got ready.

After using the bathroom, the man went to the guest room to find he secret stash of his favourite cereal, when he saw two unsuspecting teenagers sitting on the bed. A red head and a spiky haired brunette. "Honey," said the man.

"What is it?"

"Why are there teenagers in our house?"

"What are you talking about?"

The confused man averted his attention to the possible threats in front of him. "Okay, you crazy hormonal teenagers, what did you do with my daughter?" He said, getting into an amateur fighting stance that his parents taught him back in the old country.

"Honey, I think they're Namine's friends. What do they look like?" Called the woman. Kairi and Sora sat on the bed, mortified.

"One has red hair like some biker chick and the other has some, some crazy brown wig!"

"Did he just call me a biker? Oh," said Kairi, "You must be Namine's dad. I totally forgot." The wife came from her bedroom, still combing out her hair, and smiled at the two teens.

"Honey, it's just Sora and Kairi, remember them? Namine's two best friends? We saw them all the time when Namine was little?"

"_This _is them? They've grown, a lot. They were so small. The boy's as big as I am!"

"Come on, let's go downstairs. I know it's raining, but Namine shouldn't just invite people over." Said Namine's mother.

Kairi gave Sora a worried glance and said, "About that, Mrs Shimamori, Namine didn't-"

"Oh!" Namine mother shrieked as the four got to the end of the stairs. She looked into the living room and saw a whole group of people sitting on sofas and chairs. "Namine! What are all these people doing in my home?"

"Mother," Namine said nervously, "There is a reason to all of this."

"Explain then."

"You see, Riku was stuck out in the heavy rain, so I helped him and brought him back here. He ended up telling Sora I was here, and he came over too, without my consent. He, in turn, invited all these other people, and I couldn't leave them out in the rain so here they are."

Namine's father was a little flustered but said, "Well, as long as you rascals don't drink my beer and interrupt my foot-"

"Yes, dad, your football match. We know. I've warned them, now calm down."

"Where is Riku?" said Namine's mother. Namine pointed him out. "Ah, there you are. My you've grown very tall and handsome."

"I'm still youthful too honey." said Namine's father.

"Sure you are. Anyway, I have some things I want you to give to your mother Riku. After she gave us house warming gifts and all."

The two scuttled out of the room and into the kitchen. And Namine's dad shooed Axel out of his special seat and flicked the recorded TV to sports. Roxas whispered to Namine, "Your mum is so young. Geez. What is she, like twenty seven?"

"No, thirty six. My dad is forty. And stop checking out my mum!"

Xion joined in on the conversation, "She is really pretty. She looks a bit like Miss Lockhart because of the straight black hair."

"Don't tell my mother that, it'll only encourage her if she's knows she looks like she's in her twenties.

Roxas gave a smirk and said to Namine, "I guess I know where you get the good looks from now."

* * *

**Weird ending, I know. I thought I'd make things less depressing. Next chapter will be a lot about Xion, Roxas and Namine. Thank you for reading this far, and goodbyez.**

**Review/Fav/Follow if you're feeling like it. **


	10. A Romeo And His Juliet

**Yet again, another chapter. School play is finally happening as a drama project, and as always, Kairi her and her friends want in! But who will get the part of Romeo and Juliet? And what is this weird feeling Namine is getting (Personally, I'm a Shakespeare fan and I watched the play in theatre as a part of school activities. I couldn't resist!)?**

* * *

Chapter 10: A Romeo And His Juliet

"Oh gosh, Naaamineeee!" Kairi yelled, her voice shaking from how fast she ran down the hall. She jumped onto to the blond girl for a massive hug.

"What the heck is wrong with you? What's the news this time?" Namine said, relaxing into her normal self.

"Shiki just texted me from the drama department, which sadly she got a detention for. Anyway, we're going to have a year ten show!"

"How wonderful." Namine said sarcastically, "If you're so excited, go audition. You love stuff like this right?"

"But it's Romeo and Juliet this year!"

"Then get Sora to play Romeo." Namine laughed, "Imagine Sora being all dramatic on stage. So impractical..."

"Romeo and Juliet means what, doofus? Romance! They do a different Shakespeare play each year for year tens at this school. It's a known fact around here that actor and actress for the lead roles get together." Kairi chimed.

"What does that have to do with me? As much as I love the play, I'm not looking for a 'Romeo', so no thanks."

"Fine, I just thought I'd tell you. Since Roxas is going for Romeo. If you knew, you'd have a fair chance against Xion."

"Xion's auditioning for Juliet?"

Kairi nodded cheekily. "Why should you care? You're not auditioning..."

"I-I meant it as in 'good for her'. Even if I do audition, it won't be because of some stupid love rumour. Okay?"

"Whatever you say..."

* * *

Namine had a weird feeling inside herself for the rest of the day. Why does she care about being Juliet - and to Roxas? No way. But it wasn't sitting right with her, especially since she knew Xion was going for Juliet. That makes it certain that Xion likes Roxas, right? Interrupting the bowling game, always sitting next to Roxas, being eager around him, auditioning for Juliet. These are the signs. That's what Namine thought at least.

But if Xion likes Roxas, and Namine feels weird about it, what_ is_ that called anyway? That was the bit Namine couldn't figure in her head was telling her it was because she didn't want to know...

Namine was in her humanities class, thinking about this as Mr Sephiroth talked on and on. An idea stuck Namine in the head and she impulsively stood up and said, "I've got it!"

The whole class twitched their heads toward the embarrassed girl. The scariest face of all though was Mr Sephiroth's. "And what," He said slowly, yet ominously, "would this 'idea' be?"

"Uh, the black plague started in August?"

Mr Sephiroth walked over to Namine's desk and said his favourite catch phrase. "Instant detention."

* * *

Detention wasn't a big problem, since Namine only got ten minutes after school. Namine really loved Shakespeare, and couldn't bare not getting a lead role. She was really good at drama class too. Her amazing plan was to go to the audition at lunch time, as in now, and watch the auditions. She'll examine who is likely to get the role and see who is playing Romeo, since the Romeo auditions are first. If it's someone she knows and is okay with, she'll go for Juliet. So if it's Hayner, or Riku, or Sora, or even Neku if he bothers auditioning.

But not Roxas, since that will only make Kairi tease Namine.

Namine walked to the drama department and saw practically her whole year group there. Wow. She had_ not_ expected this many people. Struggling through the crowds of chattering people, Namine stumbled towards the front and took a seat at the front by the judges' panel, consisting on five teachings, including Mr Strife and Ms Gainsborough who is a performing arts teacher.

Namine spotted Shiki waiting by the stage, so she took the chance to ask her some questions. "Hey, Shiki. Remember me?" Namine laughed.

"Hi Namine. I didn't know you were auditioning,"

"Well, I might. It's a maybe." "

"You know I'm not allowed to audition because I've taken to many school opportunities? How suckish is that."

"Well it's not shocking. So have you seen Kairi and the others?"

"Most of them are backstage practising for the audition. Hectic. That's why I'm out here."

"Okay then. Thank Shiki, bye."

"It was good seeing you Namine!"

Backstage wasn't too much of a nightmare as it was outside. Namine could see people walking off into some other classrooms with scripts in their hands. The only person stubborn enough to not leave was the red haired girl standing in the centre, shooing everyone off. "Kairi!" Namine called, "What are you doing back here?"

"My job. You know I'm not allowed to audition because-"

"Yeah. I heard it from Shiki. So where are the guys? We're kind of alone here."

"They're all in the dressing room doing dumb stuff. I saw Sora dressed in Juliet's costume, so I put on Romeo's costume for a while."

"That...sounds like something the two of you would do. So are you okay with Sora going for Romeo?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, he'll sort of be being 'all romantically' with another girl on stage if he gets the part. And you did say the lead actors-"

"No. Not at all. I'm not sure if you know this, but Sora and I have been going out for two and a half years now."

"Wait, two? You told me it's been eight months! Doesn't that mean you asked him out when you're just thirteen!?"

"Shhhh! I've never told anyone. Besides, I turned fourteen like two weeks later, and the month of my birth is late in the school year. No problem though. At the time, we kept it a secret. Two years later, I told everyone I just asked him out. They think it's only been a year and a bit."

"I-I am utterly shocked. Thirteen and fourteen is so young..."

"Yeah that's what you think. Most relationships don't even make it as far as Sora and I have. Go look around at the real world. There are worse - starting from like age eight."

"Oh...Anyway, let's go see how the morons are doing."

* * *

Only a few meters away was a room full of boys dancing around in dumb costumes. Namine took one look inside and was shocked to see Roxas in a blond wig, white dress over his clothes with a paint brush and palette in his hand, doing the worst impression of herself she'd ever seen. "Roxas, you animal! How dare you!" she yelled, outraged. She grabbed the paintbrush off the impersonator's hand and dropped it onto a table.

Roxas turned around with this dumb look on his face and parroted, "_Roxas, you animal! How dare you!_" He started dancing around and swivelling his hips while doing a chicken wing flaps with his arms.

Kairi was open mouthed the whole time. "I-I think I'm scarred for life..."

"Okay," Namine said to Roxas, calming herself down and pulling the badly worn blond wig off, "show's over, Hannah Montana."

Sora did his Kairi impression, and got several weak hits on the arm from her. The two laughed it off and Namine eventually became tired of all the noise and just walked out with a goodbye. Roxas told the others he would check if she was okay, and went after her. "Oh, hey Roxas." Namine said lazily.

"Are you okay?"

"Just a headache. Sora and Kairi's little play fights are pretty loud. I don't do loud."

"I can see that. So are you, you know, auditioning?"

"I think I've been asked that question four times in the last hour. And the answer is maybe. Shakespeare is alright," Namine lied, hiding her excitement, "But I think I'll only audition depending on the person playing Romeo."

"Oh, so...who did you have in mind?"

"Just anyone in our group of friends. So that it won't be awkward."

"Right," Roxas smiled "that's completely perfect."

* * *

The auditions for Romeo passed quickly as the judges rushed to get everyone done. Namine thought the boys she knew had the best chance. Some of the guys looked like they were just dragged into it by girlfriends. Others were simply in it to mess around. Namine sat in a seat by the judges and hurried over to them when it had all finished. "So, who will be playing Romeo?" Namine said eagerly.

"The answers won't be relieved until all the very end. You'll have to wait after the Juliet auditions which are last." Mr Strife said.

"What? No, no-no-no-no. Please can you tell me now?"

"Sorry Namine." Ms Gainsborough said, "You'll just have to wait."

* * *

The auditions went right into lunch time so Namine went off to the canteen for some food. In a matter of seconds, Xion's hawk eyes spotted her and immediately went over to her. "Namine, it's been a while." she said.

"Oh, hey Xion. Are you excited about the-"

"Yes. Definitely a yes. I hope I get the role of Juliet, since it'll make a good memory."

"I've never thought of it that way."

"Well, you only get one shot at being a teenager. Might as well put it to good use."

"I guess so. I was meaning to ask you something Xion. Not really, but since you're here I thought I'd say it."

"Go ahead. I'm all ears."

"It's, uh, about Roxas."

"Oh. Did something happen?"

"Not exactly. How long has Sora known Roxas, even though their brothers?"

"Ohh, so someone told you. Yeah, it's a bit hard to believe, but true."

"So, has Roxas ever talked about it much?" Namine leaned closer to whisper, "About being adopted?"

"Very rarely. When he first moved here, his only decent friends were Olette and the others. He and Sora were pretty awkward around each other. Being new brothers and all. I thought I'd give it a shot at being friends with him, since I had connections with Organisation XII and already knew Axel. We became close friends really quickly. I knew everything about Roxas soon enough and he knew everything about me. It was so perfect up until-." Xion's voice suddenly trailed off.

"Until what? Sorry, I'm not trying to be pushy. Is it personal?"

"Not exactly. Let's just say life isn't perfect. There's more behind the story, but I guess that's Roxas's choice to say."

* * *

Everyone was gathered back into the school theatre, and the last of the Juliet auditions were approaching. The teachers had already told her that she _could_ audition at the last minute as long as her lines were all learnt (We she had done), but Namine was still making her decision. The biggest bump in the plan is the fact she isn't told who the roles would be given to at the end. The last fifteen minutes certainly were perplexing for Namine.

"Okay," said Ms Gainsborough, "Xion is up next!" The black haired girl walked up on stage confidently while the previous performer walked off. Namine was impressed at Xion, since she usually didn't like drama, nor was she 'amazing' at it as she was now. Namine reckoned she worked extra hard for it, and added it to the list of reasons she respected Xion.

It wasn't long before Mr Strife had called for the last few people, and soon there was no one left. Last minute try outs were called out like bidders auction, but there was no reply. Namine had decided to give it up for this year. There would always be other chance. Besides, she was far to excited to see who had gotten the part.

"Thank you to everyone for auditioning!" Ms Gainsborough said cheerfully, "There were so many great auditions!" To build up the tension, the teachers read out the names of the cast for minor roles. "And finally, what you've all been waiting for, the role of Juliet goes to...dun da-da da! Xion!"

"Oh my gosh, ME?" Xion said, happily, wide eyed in shock. There was a whole hall full of cheers and applauds, and Namine and her friends gathered around 'Juliet'.

"Hold your horses; we still have the part of Romeo to announce!" Mr Strife yelled, over the voices of screaming girls. Xion looked as nervous to hear the announcement as the boys who'd audition were. "And the part goes to...Riku!"

"YEEESSSSS! WE LOVE YOU RIKU!" screamed the fan girls at the doorway. These were the many girls in the school praying for Riku to get the part. Practically every other girl face-palmed and the boys gave congratulating pats-on-the-back to Riku.

* * *

Kairi and her group of friends (Sora, Riku, Namine, Xion and Roxas) all went off the Destiny Grill right after school ended. 'Making a big deal out of things is what being young is all about' was sort of Kairi's motto.

The six of them sat around a large table and pretty much feasted for the hour, putting Xion and Riku together like they were a King and Queen. "How awesome is all this?" Kairi said, "Riku playing Romeo, Xion is Juliet, Roxas playing Count Paris and Sora is Capulet. I wish I could play Capulet's wife since Xion is Juliet." Sora started blushing slightly at the thought.

Roxas smiled and said, with a posh, old English accent, "I guess it's safe to say we're an rather awesome bunch of people."

"I didn't expect you to be playing a pushy playboy." Xion said with a soft smile. "Especially since you're so friendly with me."

"And Namine too." Sora added. Namine looked at Roxas to see his thoughts on this, but he was just twiddling with his thumbs.

"Somehow I feel like the school years are going too fast. We'll be seventeen next year." Riku said.

"Hey, some of us still have to cross the border to sixteen!" Xion laughed.

Namine was contemplating quietly and hadn't said much through the whole dinner. She was still only the new girl. She didn't live her school years with her wonderful new friends. She felt a bit alienated when they talked about their time together. She couldn't be a part of that even if she tried. "Well it's not like we'll have anything to worry about." She said, "Since you guys have known each other your whole lives, I don't see how you'll ever drift apart."

Riku took a sip of his drink and then said, "You've got a point there Namine. Even if you haven't been around here as long as us, I doubt that any of us will stop being this close."

* * *

After another hour, Sora and Riku had to head home. A short while later Kairi had gone back to her house to finish off her homework. Then it was just Xion, Namine and Roxas. The three were having idle chit chat, trying to think of something important to say. For some reason the situation seemed difficult for all three of them.

It was almost as if...

They couldn't tell...

Which one of them...

Was the...

Problem.

"More importantly," Namine said suddenly, "It's getting a little late. I think I'll go home and leave the two of you to it. Bye."

Xion watched the girl get up to leave, surprise sparkling in her eyes. "Oh, okay then. Get home safely."

"Can't you stay a little longer?" Roxas added.

"Sorry, Roxas. I think I'll just head home. I need to let the food digest, or something. Thanks for the meal, even though you guys didn't pay for it!"

Roxas felt a strange feeling in his chest when Namine walked out of the building and headed home. He realised that it was the first time she left, even though he'd asked her to stay. She was usually more than willing to hang around a little longer. She'd usually say no, Roxas would ask her to stay, she'd punch him on the arm and they'd talk for another half hour. Xion seemed perfectly normal, and the remaining two talked the entire time.

Roxas hated that, for the first time ever, hanging out with Xion wasn't easy and relaxed at all.

* * *

Namine had gotten home and started a new painting as a reward after she'd done some maths homework. She put on a playlist of songs as she tried to relax for the rest of the evening until she had to go to bed. "I wonder if Xion and Roxas have gone home yet..." She said to herself.

She started rethinking today's events up until the moment she left the grill. Something made her feel like she left for no reason at all. Xion and Roxas are her friends, and she really likes them. "Why _did_ I leave...?" She asked herself.

Well, she had just spent a whole day with her friends' company, why not annoy them more? She got out her phone and sent a text to Riku, asking him if she could come over for a bit. Whenever she had a problem, it was always him or Kairi who knew the answer. But if Namine said a word about Roxas to Kairi, she'd only tease her.

After Riku had given a response of 'Sure, I'm not doing anything right now.' through a text, Namine put on a jacket and shoes then headed over to Riku's house. She hated how he lived the furthest. A forty minute walk away!

Namine took a bus because she was feeling lazy.

* * *

It wasn't long before Riku was making Namine some hot chocolate as she watched him and sat at the table. "So what are you _really_ doing here?" he asked.

"I don't know. You're smart. I thought I'd just annoy you with my thoughts."

"Wonderful. But I guess I could help out."

"Why are you going through the trouble of making hot chocolate?"

"Oh, it was always Kairi and Sora's favourite. Those two couldn't make a thing as kids, so I made it all the time."

"That's sweet. You three were always so cute in all the pictures I saw. Anyway, after you and Sora and Kairi left the grill, it was only Roxas, Xion and I. We talked for a while about a few small things, but it felt so awkward. I'm good friends with the two of them but somehow I didn't like it when all three of us were together. I just...left."

"Hmm...That's a little strange, but I get what you mean. I guess that means there's something about the two of them together you don't like."

"What do you mean, Mr Knows-The-Answer-To-Everything?"

Riku gave a quiet laugh then said, "Maybe you like spending time with just Roxas, and just Xion, but you don't like it when the two of them spend time together."

"What, so am I like...jealous?"

Riku gave a shrug then sipped his hot chocolate. "Possibly."

* * *

**Let me get one thing straight: No one jump to conclusions! Namine's strange feelings will be explained in due time...**

**I hope you liked it, and apologies for being late! I was updating my other story. If you liked, Review/Favourite/Follow. I love updating because I get all three each time! I'm too cheesy -_-**


	11. Birthday Brown-Es

**Note: Bold lettering is me talking, even during the story. Anyways I hatched an idea for a separate KH Fan Fiction about the same characters but mostly Kairi, which I'll be writing on the sidelines without publishing until finished. Don't worry though, this story is still going to be a priority as always and the writing process with not be heavily delayed. Authors' promise. Expect future chapters between Fridays and Sundays. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 11: Birthday Brown-Es

Namine was lying in her bed trying to enjoy her Saturday morning by sleeping right through it for once. It had been a few days since the roles were cast for the Romeo And Juliet show. Namine was taking things easy since then.

Just as Namine began waking up, she felt like she was experiencing an earth quake. Her body was shaken by something, but then she heard two familiar voices calling her name. A boy and a girl.

"Namine!"

"Namine!"

"Get up!" They said in unison. Namine started yawning and sat up in her bed to see her room full of her friends. Kairi and Sora were sitting on her bed shaking her legs. Riku and Xion stood at the end of the bed acting nonchalant.

"What are you all doing here?" Namine asked, assuming the question was needed.

"What else? We have a party to plan for tomorrow, and its not going to ready itself!" Kairi said, as though it were obvious.

"It's for my brother." Sora added, "For Roxas."

"But why?"

Riku sighed at the stupidity of the people in the room and began to explain. "In two days time, Roxas will be sixteen. Since that's on a Monday, we're throwing him a birthday party on Sunday. Today is the preparation day."

"Roxas has a birthday?" Namine said with genuine curiosity. Everyone in the room face-palmed.

"Well, duh." Xion said, "Hasn't he told you when his birthday was?"

"I guess it never came up. Wait, that means I'm older than him! I turned sixteen long before coming here."

"Ha ha. You're so oooooold! Your birthday is close to Riku's! Old people!" Sora laughed stupidly, and Kairi gave him a playful shove.

"He's lucky he gets to have his birthday in Spring. The weather is so lovely." Namine said enviously. It had never occurred to her that she was many months older than Roxas... Maybe that's why he's short.

"So," Xion said, "After you get ready, we're all going to head out and get 'the stuff' for Roxas's birthday."

"But won't Roxas realise we've all gone somewhere without him? It'll be too obvious, you know?"

"That's why Sora and I locked him at Axel and Larxene's house for the day." Kairi said cheekily. "We put him in a body bag this morning and Demyx shipped him to the house in his car. The poor birthday boy with never know!"

Namine became wide-eyed. "You what?! That's ridiculous and more suspicious then going out without him."

"Yeah, that's why we're going to take it in shifts to help Axel and the others keep Roxas away." Sora said, smiling evilly.

"Just saying, Xion and I totally disapproved." Riku said, "It was Sora and Kairi's idea." Xion gave to quick nods in agreement.

"Never mind all the details," Kairi said, "We're heading to the shopping centre!"

As much as Namine loved her friends, they were a real handful. She spent an hour getting ready and telling her parents what four teenagers were doing and how they broke into the home, while said teenagers were laughing their heads of in the living room, watching a tragic romance movie on TV.

"Let's go you guys!" Namine said, running down the stairs, "Let's go!"

* * *

The five of them stepped into the huge shopping centre through the automatic doors and became surrounded by the crowd around them. Sora and Kairi held hands and walked in front, while Riku was in between Xion and Namine, walking right behind.

Namine started rethinking what she was even doing here. She find it a litttle odd how she was around nine months older than Roxas. He was born in May. _'That's almost a year, right...?'_ Namine was born in September, Riku was in late August, Kairi in February, Xion during March and Sora in December near Christmas time.

_'Wait, wait, why does this even matter? So what if Roxas is younger? It's not like it was a problem for anything anyway.' _Namine told herself. Sometimes, she couldn't even understand herself. Her brain was its own little mystery.

"So," Xion asked Namine, "what are you going to get a present for Roxas?"

Namine's head straightened at the thought. "I forgot about that. I don't even know what he'd like."

"Roxas is fond of gifts you put a little thought into." Riku suggested, "Just think long and hard. I guess he likes to know that you're close to him. You know how he does that thing to push himself into your life for no reason."

"Yeah. I can definitely relate to that. Continue."

"Since you haven't known Roxas that long, just get him something that only you would have given him. For example, Kairi got Sora multi coloured finger sporks and Pikachu slippers for his birthday, since she knows he loves food, Pokémon, and besides, it was a cold winter."

"Those _are_ good gifts for Sora, but then again, he is a bit of a simpleton."

Sora turned around, "Hey, I heard that."

"As much as you are like a brother to me, you're as easy to fool as a squirrel, Sora." Namine drew her attention back to Riku. "I'm not all unique and creative with things like gifts."

"Namine, I thought you were an artist. Isn't creativity the whole idea?"

"Oh yeah. I guess I'm forgetting everything this morning."

Sora and Kairi bought Roxas a gift together in a different shop while the remaining three wandered around. Namine was annoyed that the two already wrapped up their gift when they came back. She didn't get an chance to see what it was, hence, no inspiration for ideas.

Riku then went to a shop that caught his eye and got Roxas something, which he put in a gift bag to hide. Namine felt even more annoyed. She felt like Riku did that on purpose just to annoy her. Kairi told Riku that he should to Axel's house and see if Roxas was still in the body bag and that it was his shift on 'Roxas Watch'.

Sora and Kairi went completely of task and wandered into an arcade after their mission was complete, leaving Namine and Xion to find the perfect gift. "This is so not fair, right Xion?" Namine whined. "You're Roxas's best friend, so it'll be easier for you. Kairi got to tag along with Sora, who is Roxas's brother, and Riku is a dude so he knows what Roxas would like anyway! Then there is me. I've known him for a month and a bit, and I have no idea what he'll like! If only I had time to ask Roxas a few questions before Sora threw him in a body bag!"

Xion laughed and said, "Maybe you're thinking to hard about this."

"Yeah. Maybe I am."

* * *

During all of this, Sora had been invited into the large house by Axel who led him to Zexion's room where a black body bag lay on the floor wriggling around frantically like a sausage. "Well, I'll leave it to you, Sora." Axel said, "I don't want to be here when he yells his head off at you. Good luck, you'll need it."

"Okay. Thanks anyway." Sora replied. He kneeled down beside the body bag and began unzipping it as it made a high pitched crescendo. That noise was one of Sora's few pet peeves. He hated it.

The blond boy inside the bag looked up at his smiling brother as the bag opened, wide eyed, and said something furiously but was muffled by the duck tape on his mouth. Sora realised this, and tore the tape right off, leaving a red mark on Roxas's face. Not that his face wasn't red from fury anyway.

"Sora! What the hell?! You and Kairi kidnapped me, tied me up and wrapped me in a bloody body bag."

Sora snickered. "Alliteration..."

"Why you-! I should sue you for this!"

"For grammar jokes? Oh, you mean kidnapping you Ah, but suing me would ruin our brotherly bond right?"

"Do I seriously look like I care?"

"No. But it's your birthday soon, so who gives a toss? Now you can finally buy age sixteen and over games by yourself! Congratulations, who's a big boy?"

"Tsk, don't patronise me like that. I'm not some kid."

"You are to society. Kairi told me to hang out with you here until Riku comes to do his shift. Anyways, Axel's got an X-Box downstairs with a trillion games, and that can only mean one thing. Let's go!" Sora said, running out the room.

Roxas was about to yell and question all this again, but shrugged off his anger. "Sure. I get the player one controller though!"

"No fair!"

* * *

Namine and Xion took a break at the food court and Xion had a coffee. "Xion, please tell me what you're going to get him. You know him better than anybody. I'm the opposite."

"Since this is the eighth time you've asked, I'll give you a hint." She said, leaning inwards to whisper something. "Roxas plays an instrument..."

"What? Which one? And how does this information help anyone?"

"He learnt to play guitar from Axel and Demyx while he was at the orphanage. It's not like there was anything else to do."

"Is he good at it?"

"Yeah. Quite a lot actually. The thing is, he hasn't played for a year since Roxas's dad came and screwed everything up for him again, you know."

"Wait, what?"

"Roxas's dad. Remember? Oh, did Axel forget to mention? That guy never remembers the full story! Anyway, almost a year ago, Roxas's dad came to visit him here at Destiny Islands. When Roxas's mum dad divorced, Roxas's lived with his mum but she died soon after, but his dad never came back to reclaim Roxas, and so he was sent to the orphanage. Make sense so far?"

"I never even noticed that gap in the story."

"Well, now you know. Moving on, Roxas's dad came to his house out of nowhere and said he was getting remarried and wanted Roxas back as his son. Obviously, Roxas had no hesitation when saying no. The next few weeks after that, Roxas did some serious thinking and stopped doing anything. When he came back to normal, he sort of forgot about his guitar I guess. But I know him well enough to know he'd love to play again. I just want him to be happy with it."

"That's sweet of you. You're a great friend to him. He's lucky to have you there for him."

"Well, that's just how amazing I am." Xion laughed modestly. "Oh! I just thought of a great idea for a gift for you. It'll be perfect, considering the weird friendship you guys have. Just listen closely..."

* * *

Larxene sometimes wished she wasn't a girl, entirely because she's the only girl around her, and she doesn't even like half of the girls she does know. Instead, Larxene is stuck with stupid and infuriating boys all day long. Twenty-four-seven. At Organisation XIII and at home and outside. Right now, she is in her and Axel's house, with Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Zexion, Sora - and when she went to answer the door - Riku had joined the party too.

"Oh," Larxene said, with the least bit of enthusiasm, "It's you."

"Wonderful to see you so cheerful this morning. So where are Sora and Roxas?"

"Being dumb in the living room. I'm going. If you need the other guys, they're upstairs."

Riku stepped into the house and peered through the living room to find Roxas and Sora kicking each other in the shins while their eyes were glued to the TV screen with a game on display. "Hey, Sora. Your shift is over so you can go back to the girls at the shopping place."

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm about to win this..." Sora said hurryingly. Riku watched the TV only to find Sora's side of the turn blood red and the words 'Player 1 Wins' flash onto the screen. "Nooooo! Roxas, you cheated!"

"It's not cheating when you have skill, my stupid brother. You shouldn't have been running around like a noob."

Sora and his brother bickered for a while, and then Riku stepped in to calm things down and Sora left. For the next forty five minutes, Riku had the 'privilege' of keeping an eye on Roxas.

* * *

Namine was now with Kairi as Xion snuck off with Sora to find the perfect guitar for Roxas. Kairi thought the idea Xion gave Namine for a gift was a good one considering Roxas isn't someone Namine has known for a long while. Kairi took the initiative to take Namine and buy the cake and a giant card using the money the five friends had pitched in for this.

Kairi had chosen the large card for Roxas, which she signed in advanced along with her best friend, and then Namine said it would only be fair if she chose the cake. "I know a shop somewhere around here with really good cakes. I think my mum's friend owns it or something."

"That's cool. Let's go. Keep in mind that Roxas likes chocolate cake and hates frosting, so try choosing one with cream or something." With that in mind, the two made a beeline to the cake shop and walked past a few customers until Namine saw a familiar face.

A woman at the front counter called, "Namine! Is that you?"

"Oh, hi Aunt Lia." Namine said sweetly, as the two approached the counter.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you. Tell your mum I said hi and to come visit some time."

"Will do. I'm here to buy a birthday cake for a friend's birthday. Do you think you can get the perfect one?"

"I guarantee it. So, give me some details."

"Sixteenth birthday tomorrow. A boy. Likes chocolate, no frosting. And the cake has to be reasonably cheap and average sized. There's going to be seven or eight people eating it."

Kairi suddenly grabbed Namine's arm and pulled her backward and whispered, "Namine, if you know her, you have to get a discount. Tell her you want it ten percent off."

"How am I supposed to just ask: 'Hey, can you give it to us cheaper just because we sort of know you?' to her?"

"Well, you're the only one who can!"

"Fine. Why do I always get put in these awkward situations? Screw you, story writer!" **(Tee hee, sorry Namine)**

Namine went back up to the counter reluctantly and looked at Aunt Lia. "Can I-"

"Yes, but only ten percent off, okay?"

"Thanks." Namine chuckled nervously. "Oh, and there are some changes I want you to make to the cake. I don't want anyone hearing, so come closer. It has to be a secret until finished..."

* * *

Namine had Kairi stay until the cake was ready since Riku had finished and she had to go take care of Roxas for her shift. Namine knew Kairi and Riku would be in for a big surprise when they saw the cake. Let's just say Namine put her own twist on it.

She decided to take the quickest bus and got to her destination in no time. Ringing the door bell, Riku answered and greeted Namine, saying, "Good luck. You'll need it."

Namine entered as Riku left and suddenly the house seemed so quiet. Namine wondered where everyone was. More importantly, where Roxas was. Namine crept around the house and so no sign of anyone, but had a feeling somebody was hiding out of her line of sight...

She took a step into the living room, expecting nothing, but was suddenly grabbed by a pair of arms from behind her and practically thrown onto the large couch. Namine huffed and opened her eyes unwilling to see someone wearing a Darth Vader helmet practically on top of her with a small distance between them. Their hands were beside Namine's head and the masked person was seemed to be staring right at her. Realising the situation, Namine blushed insanely and gave a mighty shove, causing the helmet to come off revealing Roxas's face, and pushing him onto the other side of the couch. "What the hell is wrong with you Roxas?! Or should I say Darth Vader? Why on earth did you attack me?! I thought you were a rapist!"

"Well, I thought you were Xion! I heard Riku leaving and a girl's voice, so I assumed it was her..." Roxas said innocently. Namine wasn't going to buy it.

"So you thought it would be alright to grab her? And what was with the mask?"

"Xion would have found it kind of funny."

"Maybe because you two are such _besties_ that it would have appeared to be a friendly joke. I was scared out of my life on the other hand, so thanks for the trauma. I am never watching a Stars Wars movie ever again."

Roxas let out an awkward laugh and fell back onto the couch. "Well that was fun. So anyway, do you even know why I'm here?"

"I don't know. Sora and Kairi wanted you gone, so a few of us a taking shifts to keep you here."

"What makes you think you could keep me here? I could step out of this house and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it."

"I could use a little brain instead of brawn, and then you'd have no choice but to stay. Maybe not a sustainable plan now, but later."

"What kind of one would you use now?"

Namine thought for a moment, hand on chin. She decided to use 'psychological persuasion' as an example. Namine shuffled towards Roxas and until she was sitting right beside him. She took a quick breath and proceeded to slip her arms around his one and leaned on his shoulder and said softly, "Will you stay here now?"

Roxas felt like in was in a cruel dream where he would wake up any second. His whole body was heating up in seconds as he felt Namine's silky hair on his neck and her soft hands around his arm.

Roxas suddenly felt the same soft hands weakly strangling his neck and Namine's voice saying, "Payback Roxas!" She released the poor boy and he just looked up at the girl. "You should have seen your face; red as a tomato! That worked way better than I thought!"

"That was mean." Roxas laughed, and then gave a smile. "Now I'm sad."

"Yeah, keep on smiling then. Well that killed ten minutes. We've got another thirty five." Namine said, looking at the clock. When she looked back at Roxas, he was holding a cherry blossom skinned phone and smiling evilly. "How did you get my phone?" She reached to grab it but he dodged out of the way.

"I didn't know you listened to sooooo many types of songs. Aw, and why didn't you add me on Facebook? You have a different hair style in every picture. They look nice."

"Don't look through the pictures! Give it back." Namine finally snatched it off him and just pouted as she scowled at him. "Let's just watch TV or something. You're too annoying to talk to, so thanks."

"Much appreciated. So, which show?"

Just as Namine was about to speak, her phone interrupted by ringing. Namine picked it up, seeing Xion's name pop up on the screen. "I wonder what she's calling for? Hi Xion."

"Namine! You need to bring Roxas and come quick! It's an emergency!"

"What, you bought the wrong stuff?" Namine laughed.

"No! But I think ghosts exist because Roxas's _mum_ is at my house door and she wants to see Roxas!"

Namine's head started hurting and she just stared at the floor, wondering if she heard that right. She put down the phone and ran her hand through her head. "What the hell is going on...?"

* * *

**To Be Continued... Have you ever seen someone you thought was meant to be dead? I have. It's pretty scary, actually. Anyways, thanks for reading this far! Remember to Review/Fav/Follow if you liked it.**

**And until next time, have a lovely week! ^_^**


	12. From Me To Us

**Thank you, again, for reading so far and enjoy the chapter! It's more of a family/hurt/comfort one, though it won't be sad and sappy for long. I sort of fixed the bad stuff at the end. Tied up the loose ends. I did put a little something-something at the end for you guys. OC's in this one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. It was only a reference.**

* * *

Chapter 12: From Me, To Us

"N-Namine...Is everything okay?" Roxas said nervously, shaking the arm of the confused looking blond girl beside him. "Who was on the phone?"

"Uh, Roxas. Will you please tell me about what had happened with your mum? How she...died?"

Roxas leaned back a little, completely flustered by the question at hand. "How did you even-"

"Axel told me the whole story, and Xion a bit too. So tell me, what happened to your mother?"

"Who was on the phone?"

"Is she really dead?"

"Namine, who was on the phone?" Roxas said sternly. Namine went quiet for a moment, realising she was going a little far.

"Fine, it was Xion. We're going to her house to meet someone. Now."

Roxas made no objection when he saw how serious Namine looked about this. The two walked, not very far, to Xion's house. Roxas tried to ask questions, but Namine seemed to ignore him, aiming only for the door bell to the house. Immediately Xion opened the door with a sighed with relief. "So you guys came. Roxas, wait outside for a second." Xion pulled Namine into the house and shut the door in Roxas's face before he could say anything.

"Is she really here?" Namine whispered.

"No doubt about it. She looks the same as the photos I've seen, and she knows a bunch about Roxas already. She hasn't told me, you know, why or _how_ she's even here. I think we should let Roxas talk it out with her. I'll wait outside the living room while they talk. You can wait upstairs until Roxas is done. Who knows what'll he'll be thinking when he's done. He'll need our help."

"Okay. But I have a feeling this is going to turn out ugly." Just as Xion was about to reach the door knob, Namine stopped her, "Wait, I know it's none of my business, but can I at least see her first?"

Xion took a breath of hesitation. "Fine."

While the black haired girl waited, Namine crept into the living room and saw a beautiful woman waiting on the sofa, looking out of the window with a young girl waiting beside her. The woman pivoted her head to face Namine. "H-Hi..." Namine said awkwardly. "We've never met, but I'm Namine. Roxas's friend."

"Hello Namine. How long have you known Roxas for?"

"Only a few months, actually. But we're close friends."

"It's good to know he's made so many lovely friends. Xion told me about some of them. So, is Roxas...happy, with life?"

"I think so. He's a really great person. He'll be here in a moment to talk. It was nice meeting you though."

"The pleasure is all mine."

Namine scurried off and out of the living room, and up the stairs while she signalled Xion to let Roxas inside. Namine knew the wait upstairs for Roxas to finish would be an anxious one.

* * *

Xion opened up the door again and Roxas was standing there with his eyebrows raised. "Did you seriously just shut me out?"

"Sorry about that. Come inside."

"What is with the atmosphere? It's giving me the creeps."

"Roxas, there's someone really important waiting for you in the living room. I'll be waiting here for you if you need me, okay?" Xion grabbed his arm and practically pulled him across the hall and shove him into the quiet room.

Roxas turned his head when he felt someone's presence. In an instant, Roxas made the most terrified look he'd ever made. The woman on the far opposite of him turned to look at him also. "Roxas...I really have missed you...so much..." She said, on the verge of tears.

"Who are you?" Roxas said.

"Roxas, it's me. Your mother."

"No. My mother, my real mother, is long gone. She died."

"Roxas, that never happened. I have a lot to explain, so please just let me. Take a seat." Roxas was now staring at the little girl sitting beside his 'mother'. The child had the most peculiar shade of pinkish rose gold hair. "Can I just say, that I'm not the woman you think I am. It's complicated. Do you know Ventus?"

"Yes, he lives with my aunt half way across the world."

"Your real 'aunt' is the woman you grew up knowing. The woman you called mother."

"What? What do you mean?"

"When I was quite young, only sixteen, I had given birth to two twin boys. One I named Ventus, the other being Roxas. The family I grew up in was very strict and having children before marriage and so young, made my parents extremely ashamed of me. They hated me for the disrespect people gave to them for it. I wanted to disown the two children, hoping to erase all that had happened, but I couldn't bare to let them go. So, my four-years older sister agreed to take you while I kept Ventus. After a year of you being under their care, my sister got married but divorced a few years after, as you know, and eventually my sister died too. I was so devastated. I was living in the place you knew your 'aunt' was living in. I was half way across the world with Ventus, still living under my parents' roof and was financially unsecure to take care of myself, let alone one child."

"So you ditched me?"

"No," the woman begged, "Of course I didn't! I just wasn't ready. After I knew you were motherless, I asked Xion's mother, a close friend of mine, to make sure you were sent to a stable orphanage and taken care of properly. And so your life continued and you were adopted and brought here to Destiny Islands. You met Ventus when you were eleven, correct?"

"Yeah. I got an email from my aunt saying she wanted me to meet my cousin. We just messaged each other and he came over a few times to visit."

"Yes. I sent him so he could meet his brother, even though you thought you were only cousins."

"If all of that is true, why have you come back? And who's the little girl?"

"It's actually about this girl, your step sister."

"What? She's like eight years old! If you were able to take care of another child you should have taken me back years ago! You liar!"

"No Roxas, let's just say she was unplanned. I love her very much, but I'm still very poor. I want to find someone to take care of her, so she can be with you."

Roxas's eyes widened in shock. "So you're planning to ditch another kid?! She's your daughter, take care of her! I can't believe your stupid enough to want to get rid of her, and keep Ventus with you _still_. You just want to keep him because he'll be an adult soon, right? Make you some money by getting a job. From what you've told me, you've just been irresponsible all your life! And look at where you are now!"

Roxas suddenly felt a guilt inside him. Even though this woman in front of him was an abomination of a mother, he could se the confused yet sad and afraid look in the little girl's eyes when he shouted. If anything, Roxas hated the position he was in. He felt like he was the bad guy in all this, unable to convince himself otherwise.

"Please, Roxas. I'm not good for her. Ventus was able to handle everything he's been through. My daughter doesn't deserve a bad life because of me, I realise that now."

"It's not my decision whether or not she lives here or not. That's for you to figure out and get sorted. You must have a lot of nerve to come here and try shoving a kid on a fifteen year old the weekend before his birthday. I bet you thought sixteen was a grown up age. Which is dumb since you should know from your own experience that it's not."

The woman gave a sad laugh and faced the young girl beside her, but continued to speak to Roxas. "I'm glad I have your permission to let her live here. But I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I've already made arrangements with your mother to foster her as your sister."

"So you would have forced her here regardless of what I said?"

"I honestly would have rather you thought you had a deceased mother than a traitor for one. I just want to know that your all happy, that way I can die in peace one day."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been diagnosed with cancer recently. I'll probably die in fifteen years time. By then, Ventus will be on his own two feet and so will you. My daughter will be in her twenties by then, and she'll have you as a brother. I can all ready tell your kind hearted enough to help her."

"How would you know for sure? I've known you for twenty minutes. I'm pretty sure that's not nearly enough time."

"I know because your nothing like the rest of my family was. Happy birthday, Roxas. You're sixteen in two days. And that blond girlfriend of yours is a real cutie. Atta boy."

"Geez, not you too. She's not my girlfriend."

"Well, I'm sure you can reel her in sometime. Ventus's girlfriend two years older than him. Aqua is her name. She's such a wonderful girl. Very polite and clever."

"I don't want to have this talk with my long lost mother, if that's alright with you." Roxas said childishly, holding out his hand and turning his head away.

Roxas's mother laughed softly and smiled. "I've waited so long just to be able to talk to you like this. Like a real mother. I think I should go, before the waterworks start."

"You know, if you weren't so irresponsible, you would have made an awesome young mum."

"Thanks Roxas. But I'm only thirty two. Too young to take care of myself if you ask me." Roxas's mother began standing up to reach the door, taking the young girl with her. "I'll be on my way then. I'll be leaving on Monday, and by then you'll officially have a real sister and foster sister."

"Well, promise me one thing while your gone."

"Sure, what is it?"

"No more children while your back at Radiant Gardens. Wait, you are married again, right?"

"I have no idea where your birth father is, but I'm happily remarried. But, I guess I can promise. Besides, it won't be long before grandchildren start popping out for me."

Roxas gave a laugh and then opened the living room door for her. "Bye then, mum."

Roxas's mother looked to be on the verge of tears, "I guess this is it. Even when I've gone back, always know that I'm your mother. Phone up Ventus if you want to talk to me. I'm not that old, so the teen life experience is still fresh. Bye."

Xion opened the front door and let the woman walk out, as all three waved goodbye as their distance lengthened. "Well that went a whole lot better than I thought. Not too much yelling. A whole lot less then when my mum walked out on me."

"Yeah, well I guess she just wanted to patch things up with me. Her problem is just that she's...made a whole lot of bad choices and mistakes. So where is Namine."

"Upstairs. The poor girl is probably mentally preparing herself for whatever argument you and your mother had. She's pretty sensitive eh?"

"Yeah. She nearly cried while we were watching Twilight. goodness the girl is such a...girl."

"Tears of joy, I think. Or was it when she thought Bella died?"

The two went up the stairs laughing at Namine's soft-heartedness and eventually reach Xion's bedroom where Namine was sitting on a beanbag. As soon as the worried girl spotted the two walk into the room, she leapt up, ran over to Roxas and gave him a hug so tight that she seemed to be trying to calm herself down instead of sympathising for Roxas.

Roxas could feel it happening again. His cheeks flaring up a little as he felt the Namine whole body gripping onto him. "Roxas, are you okay?" Namine said with her voice slightly muffled.

"Are you?"

"I think so. Was she... a zombie then?"

The room went silent. Xion started laughing her head off. "_That's_ why you were so afraid? You thought she was back from the dead?"

"What else then?" Namine said, releasing her hold on Roxas and practically pushing him aside to face Xion with curiosity in her eyes. "How Roxas's mum be dead, but then not dead?"

"She's a ghost." Roxas said evilly. "She's come to give her last goodbyes before she can pass off to the afterlife as a soul."

"Whoa." Namine said, as if her mind had been blown. "Now tell me what really happened."

* * *

**The next chapter will go back to the usual nonsense theme of my chapters. Have a great day, as always, and I'll be back with another chapter with a certain adorable sister and an unexpected birthday cake...**


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